Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
September 1, 2013/in Fiction 8-10 Junior/Middle /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 202 September 2013
Reviewer: Clive Barnes
ISBN: 978-1909263147
Price: £14.75
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 40pp
Buy the Book

Hilda and the Troll

Author: Luke Pearson

Review also includes:

Hilda and the Midnight Giant, 48pp, 978-1909263178

Picking up Hilda and the Midnight Giant first, I wasn’t inclined to like it. The pictures were uniformly dark (well, it was night) and the idea of a household attacked by a lot of very small invisible people, didn’t seem great for a comic book. However, reviewers should persist beyond first impressions and I’m glad I did, for the story continued to develop into something attractively quirky. When I continued to Hilda and the Troll (first published as Hildafolk in 2010), where really I should have started, I was properly introduced to Hilda and her mum living in an isolated cabin in the middle of a wilderness inhabited otherwise by a variety of eccentric creatures that have some relationship with Scandinavian folk tales. Hilda is a blue haired heroine whose default setting is insouciant. True, she gets anxious when she’s lost in a forest in a snow storm – ‘It’s been an eventful day.’ And it’s a shock when a rock troll on whose nose she’s hung a bell arrives tinkling at her door at midnight: ‘Now we must answer to cruel inevitability.’ But generally she finds her neighbours, whose discovery is the basis of her adventures, weird rather than malevolent, and realises that the crises of living together can be worked through if you approach them with good will, a courageous heart, a sense of irony, and faith in your friends. The world that Luke Pearson has created is fascinating, strange and droll, and Hilda is an appealing companion. The stories are strong enough and the humour subtle enough to be enjoyed by a wide age range. There is also Hilda and the Bird Parade in the same series, all handsomely produced by Flying Eye.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2013-09-01 01:00:372021-10-23 15:58:46Hilda and the Troll

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Fire Spell Oliver and the Seawigs
Scroll to top