Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Troll Hunters by DelToro and Kraus - OPTIONAL

DelToro, Guillermo and Daniel Kraus Troll Hunters, 320 pages.  Disney, 2015.  Language: PG-13 (32 swears, 0 ‘f’); Violence: PG-13 (bullying, guts, blood, gore); Mature Content: G. 

In 1969 San Bernardino a large amount of kids went missing, including Jack, the older brother of Jim who saw his brother be snatched by the giant, ugly monsters.  Fast forward to the present day – Jim is truly paranoid and his son, Jim Jr., lives with his father’s fear.  Jim Jr. and his best friend, Tub, also have to deal with aggressive bullies at school.  The bully problem fades to the background, however, when the troll problem really does return to San Bernardino and if Jim Jr., along with his Uncle Jack, can’t step up to the plate, then more than just the children will be in trouble.
            
ARRRGGHHH!  I had to wade through 42% of this book before anything happened that I even cared about.  It started out promisingly, with Jack’s disappearance, but then came pages and pages and pages of troll-less backstory showing me how awful Jim and Tub’s lives are.  Then BAM – story starts and action begins and then comes the riveting blood bath to end it.  I think most kids, however, will throw it across the room in boredom before they get anywhere near that far. Plus, the language is so sweary and the bullying and blood are so bad, that this can only be rated for high school, which doesn’t really fit the subject.  Color me mystified.

HS -  OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

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