At a first glance The Troll has all the makings of a children’s classic. Indeed, a tale that throws together a troll and some pirates with Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson at the helm certainly promises much. Unfortunately, for us, it didn’t quite live up to that promise.
The most outstanding aspect of The Troll is probably its complexity. In a departure from the format of her most renowned works, and indeed from the format of most children’s picture books, here the author ambitiously weaves together two discrete narrative threads. We follow the eponymous Troll as he stomps about looking for goats to eat, and the pirates as they sail about looking for treasure to horde. Eventually, their paths cross and the two plot threads are resolved in concert, and not without a gratifying amount of irony. However, whilst this approach offers the story a lot more colour than would have otherwise been the case, it’s at the expense its pace. Whereas most Donaldson tales glide along at breakneck speed, often carried by gentle rhyme, The Troll lumbers slowly towards its crescendo through fairly traditional prose, demanding patience of its young readers; patience that they might not have.
Fortunately the story is buoyed by David Roberts’ flamboyant artwork. His monobrow Troll is especially effective; I love the final illustration in which the reader can see the character’s rueful fate reflected in his eyes. Roberts also does a splendid job of highlighting the division of the plot by using bland, suitably grumpy colours for the Troll’s segments in marked contrast to the vibrant hues of the pirates’ thread. It’s enough to give Axel Scheffler a run for his money.
All told The Troll is a “venturesome” book that’s aimed a peg or two higher than most of Donaldson’s works, and as a result it struggles to sate the same appetites. I’m sure that it will appeal to readers who are ready to graduate from the likes of The Gruffalo onto longer, more structurally complicated tales, but even they might find it lacking the same sense of magic.
