The Trolls

by Polly Horvath

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Local notes

PB Hor

Barcode

983

Publication

Square Fish (2008), 160 pages

Description

Eccentric Aunt Sally comes from Canada to babysit the Anderson children while their parents are on a trip to Paris and every night the bedtime story adds another piece to a very suspect family history.

Awards

National Book Award (Finalist — Young People's Literature — 1999)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Honor — Fiction — 1999)

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

160 p.; 11.3 x 5.19 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member librisissimo
Substance: When the scheduled child-sitter reneges, the father reluctantly invites his estranged sister to help out. Oddly, considering the rest of the story, she agrees. The three children are spell-bound by her stories of the family, all of which are unknown to them, and the author leaves open
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the question of whether or not they are true - they are certainly strange. However, the most important story revolves around what caused the brother and sister to fall away from each other, and is handled with bitter-sweet emotion.
Style: Kind of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle on steroids.
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LibraryThing member stornelli
Aunt Sally, from Vancouver, comes to visit the Andersons in Ohio to babysit the children while their parents go on a vacation to Paris. Every night her bedtime stories reveal many secrets about their father’s family life growing up in Canada. Melissa, Amanda and PeeWee enjoyed her stories, treats
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and surprises during the visit.
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LibraryThing member francescadefreitas
When weird Aunt Sally comes to babysit, Melissa, Amanda and PeeWee become accustomed to the unexpected, including very desirable green beans building schemes, and mysterious stories of their father's childhood on Vancouver Island. Entirely amusing and a titch creepy, this is a lovely family story.
LibraryThing member AleciaDesselle
Polly Horvath's fictional novels are funny stories with quirky characters and a lesson taught, as in The Trolls. Aunt Sally comes to town to babysit her nieces Melissa, Amanda, and nephew Robbie. While in town she shares many stories from her and their father's childhood that the children have
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never heard. Through these stories the children learn a meaningful lesson in the end.
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LibraryThing member bridgetrwilson
Aunt Sally has a multitude of hilarious far-fetched family stories to tell her nieces and nephew. You'll laugh out loud.
LibraryThing member foggidawn
Aunt Sally is the sister that their dad never talks about, but when Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee Anderson's parents need a babysitter for a week and the normal one is sick, the children find themselves in the charge of Aunt Sally, the oddest relative they have ever encountered. Aunt Sally lets the
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children dig through her luggage and play with their food, and she tells them the wildest stories of growing up on magical, mysterious Vancouver Island. There's the one about Great-Uncle Louis, who came for two weeks and stayed for six years, and the one about Aunt Hattie's mysterious romance -- and, of course, the one about the trolls. That story about the trolls, in fact, might explain a lot about their family history. But of course, trolls aren't real . . . are they?

Whenever I read a book by Polly Horvath, I know to expect a bit of weirdness and whimsy, and this book is no exception. It's a slim volume, but Horvath expertly weaves Aunt Sally's family stories through the framework of a week in the lives of the Anderson children. Aunt Sally is just the sort of crazy aunt that I would like to be, someday -- but I think I'd rather not encounter the trolls.
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LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz
Melissa, Amanda and Pee Wee's parents are going to Paris and the babysitter is ill, so Dad calls on his sister Sally to come stay with the kids.

When Aunt Sally arrives she is a surprise to the kids. Tall, wearing very high heels with chunky soles and laces that wound up her legs. She had a lot of
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yellow hair that was piled high on the top of her head, sparkly eyes and long dangle earrings.

Aunt Sally brings with her tales of her childhood and life on Vancouver Island in Canada. Stories about Great-Uncle Louis who came to visit for two weeks and stayed six years and his belief that everybody had to eat all their green beans, bullrushes, fiddlehead ferns and other vegetables to be healthy. Also the fact that he believed in trolls. Grandma Evelyn and Grandpa Willie who had a pretty happy-go-lucky house. The next door neighbours, the Hoffners and their dogs Mrs. Gunderson and the new Mrs. Gunderson. And much more.

Aunt Sally talks to the kids as people and not kids. Her stories are entertaining but with a message about families and how the members relate and the importance of families. Some seem so full of exaggeration to be hard to believe and some so very down to earth.

This was a terrific read to me. And I really wish I had an Aunt Sally like her. Life would have been even more interesting!
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Pages

160

Rating

½ (47 ratings; 3.9)
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