Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > The Silly Goat Gruff review
Over the bridge where the hills were rough, where there wasn't much food (not nearly enough), where things were bad, and times were tough... lived Willy and Billy and Silly Goat Gruff.
Scott Tulloch's refreshing new spin on an old tale is absolutely hilarious and will be loved by children and adults alike!
Children's colour illustrated, soft cover.
Product reviews...
My daughter received this book for Christmas after I won it earlier in the year. Having read the story to check it's suitability I was keen to see how her and her brother reacted to it. It was an instant hit.
The rhyming is excellent and keeps the story flowing nicely as well as changing just enough between the troll and the goats to allow for easy voice changes. I have caught my 7 year old reading aloud to his sister who thinks it is brilliant. The illustrations are lovely and definitely aid in the story telling.
I have the need to share books that I love with others so this book was taken along to Playcentre and read at the Kai Table at the end of session where it received the expected attention from both the adults and the children. I love reading fairy tales that have a new twist on them, sometimes they fall flat but this definitely wasn't one of them.
If you have a child that loves rhyming books or love reading in rhythm yourself this book would definitely be one to add to your collection although I'm sure it would compliment everyone's bookshelf and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a new favourite, being a quick read there's definitely nothing wrong with that!
I just got this book with my fly buys points for my nearly 2 year old son and he loves it and was a great use of my fly buys points for sure. I would say the book is going to be a favourite for ages as he loves the silly goats trying to cross the bridge. It is such a good remake of a classic story that I still remember when I was just knee high to a grasshopper. We had a little bridge in our garden that me and my sister spent countless hours trip trapping over!
The book has such great illustrations I love how humorous the pictures of the silly goat are and then how big and huge and scary he looks at the end of the story. I thought Cai might find the ending a little bit scary but he doesn't at all he seems to in fact find it really quite funny. It is good that the Silly Goat gets the better of the troll after his two brothers trick the troll.
I totally recommend you to go out and buy this book for the little people in your life I always think it is great if you can bring stories from your own childhood back to life and although this isn't the classic story it is brilliantly done and is sure to be a hit with young and old. I am so happy we ended up getting the book and we will treasure it for years to come!
I was lucky enough to win this book recently, and what a great little book it is, so I wanted to review it. My 5 year old spotted the book in my room before I had a chance to even show it to her... and boy was she excited! Apparently she had heard this book at both school and preschool and she loved it! And after my first time reading it, I loved it too.
To be honest I'm not sure if she knows the original billy goat gruff story, but it probably doesn't matter either way... it pretty much follows the same basic story but with a nice rhyming twist, fun pictures, and some little deviations from the traditional story. I'm not too worried if she grows up thinking this is the traditional story!
My 5 year old was held captivated for the whole story... although I'm not sure if she understood what yodelling was, so I found myself yodelling a demonstration at the end! But the story is fun, and I can see myself reading this over and over and not getting too bored ... especially as it's not too-long of a story.
I think any child from around 2 or so would understand and enjoy this book.
Well although this is based on the traditional tale of the troll and the billy goat gruff I am not quite as taken with it. We have had this book for two weeks now which is a good test run time for any book in our house. Miss Six has declared it too scary and says it has given her nightmares. Miss Four just isn't interested and it just isn't at the level to read to Miss Two as the story is just a little too complex for her.
The three goats leave their barren hills to cross the bridge (under which lives the troll) in search of greener pastures. They come up with an ingenious way to get across and this is accompanied by some very funny illustrations which I enjoyed.
Although the illustrations are very well drawn they are a little scary and I see why Miss Six finds them too scary for her. The story is rhyming and funny and did make me laugh but it just isn't for my girls. I am not sure exactly what age group this is best suited for. Maybe the 3-5 years range and I wonder if boys would find this more to their liking...?
I arrived at KIWIreviews HQ with my four year old to chose some books to review. Together we chose two books but The Silly Goat Gruff was read by her all the way home. Both my girls love traditional stories so when I saw it I knew it would be a hit with the kids. As I was reading it I thought this is just another nice version of the story I am so familiar with until the last goat met the troll. The twist was very clever and put a big smile on my face.
The illustrations really show how desperate the goats were for food. They look so thin their ribs are visible and the they certainly aren't happy. The troll isn't cute or hairy as he is often portrayed. He is ugly but not to scary as to give the little ones nightmares.
The only part that my children didn't understand was the yodelling. It isn't something they had come across before. I tried my best to yodel for them but they just laughed. Thanks to YouTube they now understand what yodelling is and subsequent reading of the book are enjoyed with or without me embarrassing myself.
The kids really did love this book and I do too. It is a story I will be able to read repeatedly without cringing.
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