Troll Swap by Leigh Hodgkinson



In Leigh Hodgkinson's newest book, Troll Swap the story feels familiar but the illustrations are completely engaging and very funny and fun, making for a great read. Hodgkinson also the author of the charming fairy tale update, Goldilocks and Just the One Bear and the brilliant Magical Mix-Ups, a series of books that allows readers to help write and illustrate the story inside!


Timothy Limpet is a hairy troll who is not like other trolls. He is not a "messy, mucky" creature. Timothy is "nice and polite and tidy." And so is his cave. The other trolls are mystified by Timothy, who stands out like a sore thumb.


Tabitha Lumpit lives in a house with her mommy and daddy but that is where her similarities with most other children end... She is "loud and loopy and messy." She has a laugh like a "giant foghorn" and would rather "pick her nose than a flower any day of the week." Feeling frustrated and like outsiders in their own homes, Tabitha and Timothy stomp off, pondering their predicaments, which is exactly when they cross paths and swap home lives.


You can probably guess how Troll Swap ends, even so, it is a lot of fun getting there. In addition to her exuberant, kooky, colorful illustrations, Hodgkinson adds a brilliant touch to Troll Swap by printing the dialogue in the word bubbles of the "nice" characters in a tidy print with each letter neatly underlined, the dialogue for the "messy" characters in a clunky block lettering. The final pages with Tabitha and Timothy fitting back in with their respective tribes while at the same time showing off some of their newly learned traits makes for a great ending.

Other books by Leigh Hodgkinson:





The Magical Mix-Ups series:





 Source: Review Copy




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