Carol Ottolenghi

There are two reasons I liked “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” retold by Carol Ottolenghi. First, I really enjoyed the descriptive language the author used when retelling the story. The descriptive language made it easier for me to follow along with the story and picture the scenes in my mind. For example, on page 7 the troll is described as “he was a snarling, sneaky, big bad bully of a troll.” Using these words to describe the troll gives me a better image of what he possibly looked show more like and how he acted, without having to look at the illustrations. The second reason I liked this book is because of the illustrations. I truly believe that these illustrations enhanced the story. To me, the illustrations look cartoon like and really fit well with the text. On page 7, there is an illustration of the troll accompanied with the descriptive language I discussed earlier. In the picture of the troll he looks mean and grumpy. To add, the illustrations really supported the text. Overall, I believe the big idea of this story is don’t get too big for your britches. The troll thought he was big, bad, and tough and in the end he got tricked. show less

Jack and the Beanstalk is part traditional literature which does not always have a typical main message. In this book, I would say the main theme is the boy finding his own way to help out his family. Even though it might not be necessarily right, he gets away with it in the end.
One reason I liked this book was the organization of the text. On each page there is a couple of sentences in English telling the story. Then underneath separated by a boarder, is the exact same sentences but in show more Spanish text. For example on the last page, the top of the text reads, "Jack, his mother, the goose, and the harp lived happily ever after." Then underneath it reads, "Juan, su mama, ele ganso y el arpa vivieron felices para siempre." It allows more people to enjoy this story and the paragraph organization makes it easier to read.
Another reason I liked this book was the variety of illustrations that were used page to page. For example, on one page the majority is text surrounded by a boarder of magic beans. Underneath the text there is just a picture of a large pot and pan. The page next to it though, is a top to bottom picture of the giant covering the whole page. It keeps the story lively because it is not repeating the same technique over and over again. show less

Summary: There were three goats named Gruff; a little billy goat, a medium billy goat, and a big billy goat. They wanted to cross a bridge because the grass was greener on the other side, but they were scared because a troll lived under the bridge and he eats everything that crosses. The goats devised a plan. The little billy goat crossed the bridge and the troll came out to eat him, but he said that he was too little and that the troll should wait for a bigger goat to cross. The medium show more billy goat crossed the bridge and the troll came out and said that the troll was a bully and to wait for someone his own size. The big billy goat then crossed the bridge and the troll came out. The troll said that this goat was the perfect size and the two began charging at each other. The big billy goat hit the troll so hard that the troll never bothered anybody ever again.

Review: Ottolenghi did a great job of retelling the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff in both English and Spanish. This is such an amazing book for children to read if they are English Language Learners or if they are learning Spanish. The central message of the story is kindness. The goats wanted to cross a bridge, but the troll was so mean and nasty that he scared everybody. If the troll was just nice and let people cross the bridge, he would have not had to get in a fight with Big Billy Goat Gruff and would have not gotten hurt. It also teaches children to stand up for themselves. If they are being bullied, children should know that if they stand up to the bully (in a non violent way) that the bully will most likely back down. show less

I liked this book for two reasons. I liked that this book is bilingual. On each page of text, there is the story in English, and in Spanish. This way, children could attempt to learn a new language or share with a friend who understood the other language. I also liked that this is a classic folk tale that was adapted to be able to be translated into Spanish. Each version of the story is different, depending on the region you live in. In this particular version, Jack’s mother says “Those show more giants robbed us of that gold and two treasures. They killed your father.” (pg. 15). That is not a statement normally told in this story. I like that this book can be shared with native speakers and English Language Learners. show less