cover image The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Mara Alperin, illus. by Kate Parkhurst. Tiger Tales, $7.99 paper (32p) ISBN 978-1-58925-459-6

Part of the My First Fairy Tales line, this straightforward recounting keeps to the traditional narrative of three goat brothers outwitting a surly troll who’s bent on eating them. Though Alperin describes the troll as having “a terribly warty face” and “horribly pointy ears,” Parkhurst draws him as a smiley green cutie-pie in patchwork clothes—hardly a serious threat (the rounded knife and fork he wields don’t look like they could cut through gelatin, much less goat). Nevertheless, children should still find their sense of schadenfreude satisfied as they watch Big Gruff headbutt the troll into the river. A not-at-all-scary account best suited to youngest readers. Simultaneously available: Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)