Don't Wake The Troll product reviews

What an exciting story for children! Awesome illustrations which perfectly suit the clearly written story. The blurb instantly makes you want to read on and find out what happens in the end.

I have to disagree with it being boring with not enough happening as my children were totally engaged from start to end. I also want to point out too, that this is a 'children's book', not Lord of the Rings, I'm not sure what more the other reviewers were expecting, if your kids loved it... then it's a success. When we read it the first time we were animated and read it with whispering voices (generally when it says 'whispered' I would guess it would be pretty obvious to whisper just to reinforce to your child the definition of the word! It shouldn't be something you feel you 'have' to do to make it more interesting for yourself).

There's plenty of opportunity to build up the excitement and I don't feel there's a need for a twist or anything more (some books go on and on and you just want them to end because you child has found picking their nose more interesting than listening to you).

It's just a fun, suspenseful story that children will understand and want to read again and again (just as my kids want to!). As a parent I really enjoyed reading this story. I really love the illustrations too, the dwarves are cute, hilarious and I love their names. Happy to have this book in our collection, it's a keeper!

I was very excited about reviewing this book as the blurb on the back of the book and the colourful illustration on the front of the dwarves creeping through the tunnel with their torches looked like it was going to be a very exciting adventure story. What I found however was not all that exciting a book at all. I felt that the story line was a little basic and didn't have anything all that exciting.

The dwarves set out through the Troll's cave on a mission to get back their treasure that the Troll stole. They have to be very quiet so as to not wake the troll which means they have to leave behind some of their items along the way. However they wake the troll while bagging up their treasure and have to run to get away. The Troll chases but trips on the objects they had left in the tunnel and when he exists the cave into sunlight he is turned to stone.

I think it is a complex enough storyline for children it just didn't to me have to much excitement and could of been developed so much more. I felt that the final few pages were so rushed we had this build up of the dwarves going through the tunnel having to be quiet and then once they woke the troll the book was over in a couple of short rushed pages. It ends by summarising almost and then saying the dwarves lived happily ever after which I found just a little bit boring.

We will read this book again as my son did like the pictures and it is quite funny when the Troll is turned to stone and has birds all over him and weeds growing out of him. I think we can add excitement in the way we read it by using whispered voices when the Dwarves are sneaking and hurried scared voices when they are running away from the Troll. This book is still a delightful story book I just feel it could of been so much more.

My Miss Two really likes this book and has made her dad and I read it to her every night since we got it. She loves the illustrations and will sit during the day and "read" it to herself looking at all the pictures. I think she likes that the illustrations are very colourful and bold. She will point to pages and we have to talk about the pictures. She particularly likes the illustration of the troll when he has turned to stone and has bird poo all over him. We are raising baby chickens so she has a bit of a thing about bird poo being gross at the moment!

So anyway Miss Two loves the book but strangely, or perhaps not, her father and I do not! Whilst I think the illustrations are great the story itself seems a bit pointless to us both. So the dwarves go into the tunnel, steal the treasure, wake the troll and run out and (spoiler alert) the troll turns to stone. However maybe I am wanting a bit much for a children's picture book? I guess the target audience (Miss Two) loves the book and we both really enjoy the illustrations so I can't mark this down too much but I really would have preferred the plot to be just a little more developed or with a twist.

Overall a great, humorous, illustrated book with an average story line that will however appeal to the target audience and especially little ones that love trolls and very amusing dwarves.

Don't Wake the Troll is a fun book that suited my four year old and six year old very well. This is a fun story about a group of five dwarves who made a lot of treasure only to have a troll steal it from them, so off they head into the mountain (during the day for as we all know Trolls can't go out in the sun) to try and steal back their treasure.

I had great fun, whilst reading this book to the kids, in whispering every time the dwarves spoke (as naturally we didn't want the troll to know we were in the cave!), snoring for the troll, and then in the end (making the kids jump) giving out a loud roar and run!!!!! The kids loved it and really got into the story.

The illustrations were well done, and I loved that each dwarf was unique and had it's own little personality. The troll was suitably trollish and everything fitted together perfectly. My kids loved this and can't wait to read it again.

Don't Wake the Troll is a fun book that children and adults will enjoy, really easy to get into the right mood, and no fear if you're no good at doing voices when the most you need to do is whisper.