Description:
"Trit trot trit" go the tiny hooves of Baby Billy Goat as he tries to cross the bridge to greener pastures. "I'll eat anyone who dares to cross MY bridge," growls the mean troll who lives under the bridge. Claiming he's too small to make more than a mouthful for the troll, and promising that his big sister who is coming along soon will make a much nicer meal, Baby Billy Goat is allowed to pass. When Big Sister Billy Goat "trit trots" across the bridge, she pulls the same ploy. But the by-now ravenous troll is in for an extra large surprise when Big Brother Billy Goat makes his heavy-footed appearance ("Trit trot trit"). "I will not be your dinner, or anyone else's!" he declares. And "THUMP"--over the bridge and into the water the ogre goes, never to be seen again. The retelling of this classic nursery tale has a highly entertaining twist: it's a picture book and the setting for a puppet show! Each sturdy board page opens up to be a stage, with a die-cut hole and four finger puppets to dramatize the events of the story. Peter Stevenson's lively, witty illustrations of the local frogs and bunnies ineffectively tormenting the troll with squirt guns, slingshots, and spiders, are almost too much of a distraction--young readers could spend hours chortling over the critters' antics before they even get to their own performance! Be sure to read the other titles in the Finger Puppet Theater series, including Sleeping Beauty and The Three Little Pigs. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter
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