The Three Billy Goats Gruff-the FULL Story

by Richard Jackson, Katherine Tillotson (Illustrator)

Overview

The classic tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff gets a cheeky twist in this picture book retelling.

Trip trap, trip trap.
“ACH! Who is that tap-tap-tapping on my bridge?”

The story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and the way they outwitted a hungry bridge troll is one of our most well-known fairy tales...but how exactly did it become so? It turns out, the cleverness of the Brothers Gruff isn’t limited to tricking trolls—they are also genius self-promoters! (Keep those goats away from Instagram!)

Find out the rest of the story in this wily retelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481415736
Publisher:	Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	173,683
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 11.75(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Richard Jackson was a long-time editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers and the critically acclaimed author of a number of books, including Have A Look, Says Book., illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, which Publishers Weekly proclaimed “a shoe-in for the bedtime rotation;” All Ears, All Eyes, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson; and This Beautiful Day, illustrated by Suzy Lee, which received three starred reviews.

Katherine Tillotson is the illustrator of several children’s books, including All Ears, All Eyes; All the Water in the World; Shoe Dog; and It’s Picture Day Today!. Ms. Tillotson lives in San Francisco with her husband. Visit her at KatherineTillotson.com.

Editorial Reviews

2020-06-30
A retelling of the famous Norwegian fairy tale “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.”

The “famous” Brothers Gruff are Big Billy Goat, Middle Billy Goat, and Little Billy Goat. They are famous, the text explains, because of a “loudmouth bully boy” who lives under a mountain bridge, the ugly and fearsome Troll. The Gruff brothers, having eaten all the grass on their side of the mountain, realize that the grass is literally greener on the other side and make their way across the bridge, escaping—or, in the case of Big Billy Goat, head butting—the very hungry Troll. Despite the subtitle promising “The Full Story,” this rendition does not stray far from the original. In fact, some of the only differences between this picture book and the traditionally told fairy tale are the presence of the Gruff brothers’ cousins, to whom they retell the story of how they overcame the troll under the bridge, and the way the text embellishes the familiar showdowns between Gruffs and Troll. The traditional repetition of the “trip-trap” of the goats’ hooves is retained, giving children opportunities to participate, and Tillotson’s bright and cheerful illustrations, which paint Troll as a red, snaggletoothed, horned creature, are certain to be appealing to a young audience. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.8-by-17.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Entertaining and visually appealing but not particularly original. (Picture book/folktale. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews