IGNORE THE TROLLS

Modern advice in a medieval setting plays on parallels between trolls, real and online.

Tim the Timid (as he’s known) has a good heart, but he yearns to be more than a boy afraid to dance with fairies. At school the bravest kids are the Knights, so that’s where he’s set his sights. Unfortunately, when tryouts are announced, Tim starts practicing only to find his embarrassing mistakes are captured by a troll’s “magic picture taker” and sent to all the kids in school. The more Tim tries to prove himself to the trolls, the worse they treat him, until he finally heeds advice from the knight Bethany the Brave that the only way to defeat them is to ignore them. Tim draws courage from her counsel, though it is unclear how this solves his initial problems of timidity, which were entirely unrelated to trolls. Regardless, his newfound strength leads him to victory. While many might benefit from the advice to ignore online bullying, it’s unfortunate that the book lacks any backmatter that might provide kids advice from an era a little more recent than the Middle Ages. Busy pages teem with images that meld the past and the present, often serving the story but sometimes overwhelming the eye. Tim presents white; Bethany has dark skin.

Gets to the titular point but lacks contemporary advice.