by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 06, 2010

"My name is Treva, and I have had trouble with trolls."

She a little girl with a big smile - and she looks authentically Swiss. (She's got blonde pigtails, a patterned green sweater, and a red ski cap with a white puff on top.) Treva's even wearing heavy ski boots, and red-and-white striped stockings. But the snowy hillside holds another character - five little pointy-headed trolls!

Jan Brett wrote and illustrated "Trouble With Trolls," and her illustrations give the story a deep intrigue. When Treva first goes into the hills, Brett draws the detailed texture of each tree's bark, and every lumpy snow-covered branch. There's a homey frame around the top of the page - an ornate pattern of needlepoint yarn. And the frame's even more interesting at the bottom of the page. It peeks into the ground to show the troll's home!

Brett provides details of Treva's hike - she'll climb over a local mountain to ski down its backside and visit her cousin. Both the drawings and the details add a realism, which make the story more compelling. She travels with her dog, Tuffi, and he sees something scuttling by. The dog runs after it, then yelps, and then "there was Tuffi caught tight in the arms of a troll.

"I was certain that's what he was, with his long furry tail, big ears, and one gold earring."

What exactly is a troll? That's part of the book's charm. They're mysterious, explained only by Brett's drawing. Her storybooks have used a frame before - it's something like a trademark. But in this book, they let the anxious reader spy on the troll family.

"The troll squealed and growled. 'I want dog.'" And he waggles his ears back and forth at Treva. But Treva quickly thinks up a good trick. She tempts the troll into stealing her mittens - and leaving the dog behind.

The story retains its mystery, and it unfolds gradually. Treva moves further up the hill in a beautiful illustration, which shows dozens of trees blanketed with snow. But then "I came face to face with a second troll." And this one is "rocking with glee, his long nose burried in Tuffi's warm fur."  

"I got dog," says the troll. Treva shrugs. And she tempts this troll into stealing her pom-pom hat. Soon she's distracted another troll with her sweater, and a pair of trolls with her boots.

The illustrations are magical, and Treva eventually reaches the top of the mountain. But five trolls are waiting for her, bellowing "We want dog!" Finally she offers them her last gambit - her skis.  But she tricks the trolls one last time, by whispering "I can fly with these."

And they give all her clothes back just to watch her do it...!

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