What do you think?
Rate this book
The Billy Goats Gruff
In this retelling of a Norwegian folktale, three clever billy goats attempt to outwit a big, ugly troll that lives under the bridge they must cross on their way up the mountain.
- GenresChildrensChapter Books
48 pages, Hardcover
First published September 7, 2004
About the author
Jane Bingham
332 books17 followersJane M. Bingham spent most of her adult life teaching college students about children's literature at Oakland University, collecting and studying children's books from across history and around the world, and campaigning for better materials for children to read. After she retired from that career, she began writing children's books of her own. Bingham has since authored several nonfiction books that seek to explain contemporary issues to children, including divorce, the dangers of drug abuse, and the art and culture of civilizations around the world.
In Why Do Families Break Up? Bingham attempts to demystify the process of divorce for middle-school students. The book begins by examining some of the reasons a couple might decide to divorce, then moves on to explain the process of coping and moving on after a family separates. School Library Journal contributor Sharon A. Neal described the book as "supportive [and] unbiased" and noted, "Despite the nature of the topic, the book is hopeful."
Tiananmen Square: June 4, 1989 examines the studentled protest against China's Communist rulers that occurred there, in the middle of Beijing, in the spring of 1989. On June 4 the government mobilized the army, including tanks, to disperse the demonstrators, killing several of them in the process. "The excellent illustrations and clear narrative," Elizabeth Talbot wrote in School Library Journal, make Tiananmen Square a "good introduction" to the protest and its aftermath.
Bingham is the author of three installments in the "World Art and Culture" series, examining India, Africa, and Aboriginal Australia. Each book is brief, only fifty-six pages long, and "the texts are straightforward and concise," Gillian Engberg noted in a review of AfricanArt and Culture for Booklist. Despite this brevity, much information is packed into each volume. Bingham opens each book with a chapter about the history of the region, from thousands of years ago to the present day, and follows with chapters about the art forms practiced in that area. These include architecture, basket-weaving, creating musical instruments, dance, and body modification (tattoos, piercings, and the like), among others. Indian Art and Culture also includes a chapter on one of that country's modern art forms, the "Bollywood" movie industry. As Donna Cardon noted in School Library Journal, "The texts not only describe the art forms and how they are created, but also explain the role that art plays in the cultures."
Bingham once wrote: "In 1981 I completed a trip which took me to American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Swaziland. I collected examples of children's books along the way and became acutely aware of the need for books and other teaching resources in many developing countries. I was especially impressed with the variety of India's and Bangladesh's children's books—in spite of the difficulties their creators often encounter in publishing and promoting them. I also found that becoming aware of and enjoying the literature from other countries enriched my appreciation of American children's books. I found myself asking over and over why we, with the plethora we have to choose from, too often opt for the mediocre rather than the 'rarest kind of best.' As educators, creators, and consumers, we all too often forget to think of children's books as real literature because we fail to apply critical literary standards. It is my hope that my teaching and writing will draw attention to the continuing need for quality books in our own country and will also encourage American students and teachers to adopt a wider, world view of children's literature."
In Why Do Families Break Up? Bingham attempts to demystify the process of divorce for middle-school students. The book begins by examining some of the reasons a couple might decide to divorce, then moves on to explain the process of coping and moving on after a family separates. School Library Journal contributor Sharon A. Neal described the book as "supportive [and] unbiased" and noted, "Despite the nature of the topic, the book is hopeful."
Tiananmen Square: June 4, 1989 examines the studentled protest against China's Communist rulers that occurred there, in the middle of Beijing, in the spring of 1989. On June 4 the government mobilized the army, including tanks, to disperse the demonstrators, killing several of them in the process. "The excellent illustrations and clear narrative," Elizabeth Talbot wrote in School Library Journal, make Tiananmen Square a "good introduction" to the protest and its aftermath.
Bingham is the author of three installments in the "World Art and Culture" series, examining India, Africa, and Aboriginal Australia. Each book is brief, only fifty-six pages long, and "the texts are straightforward and concise," Gillian Engberg noted in a review of AfricanArt and Culture for Booklist. Despite this brevity, much information is packed into each volume. Bingham opens each book with a chapter about the history of the region, from thousands of years ago to the present day, and follows with chapters about the art forms practiced in that area. These include architecture, basket-weaving, creating musical instruments, dance, and body modification (tattoos, piercings, and the like), among others. Indian Art and Culture also includes a chapter on one of that country's modern art forms, the "Bollywood" movie industry. As Donna Cardon noted in School Library Journal, "The texts not only describe the art forms and how they are created, but also explain the role that art plays in the cultures."
Bingham once wrote: "In 1981 I completed a trip which took me to American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa, and Swaziland. I collected examples of children's books along the way and became acutely aware of the need for books and other teaching resources in many developing countries. I was especially impressed with the variety of India's and Bangladesh's children's books—in spite of the difficulties their creators often encounter in publishing and promoting them. I also found that becoming aware of and enjoying the literature from other countries enriched my appreciation of American children's books. I found myself asking over and over why we, with the plethora we have to choose from, too often opt for the mediocre rather than the 'rarest kind of best.' As educators, creators, and consumers, we all too often forget to think of children's books as real literature because we fail to apply critical literary standards. It is my hope that my teaching and writing will draw attention to the continuing need for quality books in our own country and will also encourage American students and teachers to adopt a wider, world view of children's literature."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 23, 2024
Beware of the troll under the bridges said no goat ever according to Paul Galdone’s “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” In this book, a troll lives under a bridge with a strong appetite for goats. As it happens, a goat crosses over the bridge and the troll jumps up to confront this goat. I enjoyed the dialogue between the goats and the troll during these confrontations. After encountering two brother goats and letting them pass, the troll finally is confronted by the third and biggest of the three brother goats. That is when the troll is meant with the irony of wanting to always want something bigger and better. The major theme in this book is to warn children about the dangers of greed. The troll, wanting a bigger and bigger meal, failed to see what would happen if he met an adversary that was stronger than himself. As a result, when he finally came face to face with the largest of the three goats, he was easily defeated. The main genre of this book is traditional folklore literature. The story is derived from recitations that were orally passed down from generation to generation. Children reading this book could learn about the importance of not being greedy. Also, children could learn to familiarize themselves with different literary concepts such as imagery and different vocabulary terms. This book was a WOW book for me because the book had a well-thought-out theme and the interactions of characters made the book intriguing to read. I especially enjoyed the way the troll developed into a character that was almost narcissistic in many ways and he ultimately met his demise for this reason.
I noticed the author’s craft to incorporate repetitive lines that allowed for the unexpected twist at the end of the story to be more impactful. For instance, the author wrote each time right before the troll confronts the goat crossing the bridge, “Who dares walk across my bridge?” Finally, after the third time writing the same line, the trolls go to confront the goat but unlike the previous two times, he meets a ginormous goat. The author enhanced this turn of events by creating a sense of mundaneness to make the change of routine even more unexpected. I would consider this book to be an anti-bias book because the characters of the story involve a troll and goats which do not represent a specific culture or people. This was intentional as the troll character would be offensive if he was described in a way to represent that of a particular culture.
I noticed the author’s craft to incorporate repetitive lines that allowed for the unexpected twist at the end of the story to be more impactful. For instance, the author wrote each time right before the troll confronts the goat crossing the bridge, “Who dares walk across my bridge?” Finally, after the third time writing the same line, the trolls go to confront the goat but unlike the previous two times, he meets a ginormous goat. The author enhanced this turn of events by creating a sense of mundaneness to make the change of routine even more unexpected. I would consider this book to be an anti-bias book because the characters of the story involve a troll and goats which do not represent a specific culture or people. This was intentional as the troll character would be offensive if he was described in a way to represent that of a particular culture.
July 14, 2017
Miss 2 and I like to explore different books at the library and try to get different ones out every week or so. This was one of the ones that she chose (probably because she really liked the Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone).
This is a longer retelling with a lot of expansion to the tale. Useful for primary school kids as an early reader but we didn't particularly like it; we'll stick to the Galdone version.
This is a longer retelling with a lot of expansion to the tale. Useful for primary school kids as an early reader but we didn't particularly like it; we'll stick to the Galdone version.
January 2, 2023
Tonight I read this book with my 7 year old son and asked him to review it. He said it was an amazing book and he loved how the biggest goat was brave enough to help all the animals in the forest and save them from the troll.
October 13, 2017
This is a cute retelling of the Norwegian folktale. My girls loved it.
December 30, 2018
A longer version of the folk tale. I like the Ladybird edition much more, with the beautiful pictures.
February 17, 2013
Annotation:
The Billy Goats Gruff is a small chapter book about three goat brothers who have run out of food and have grown tired of their current surroundings. So the brothers decide they want to go to across the bridge to new land where no one else lives, they would soon find out why no one else lived there. The troll guarded the bridge and allowed no one to pass, until that is the three brothers crossed and finally defeated the troll. Once the troll was gone everyone else crossed the bridge and found more food and they were so proud of the brothers for getting rid of the troll.
The illustrations complemented the story very well and helped enhance the reader’s perceptions of what was happening in the story.
Response:
I awarded The Billy Goats Gruff four stars because I thought it was very well written. I really liked the concept of making this book into a chapter book as well. I think it will be a good introductory for the concept of a chapter book.
I also like the meaning behind this book that you have to stand up for yourself and to not let anyone pick on people just because they are smaller. It reminds me of how my older brother is always there for me to help me with my problems and to stand up for me when I need him to.
Classroom Connections:
I think this book would be a great introduction to the concept of chapter books. It is an easy read and can be used as a read allowed for kindergarten. A good lesson I found to use for this book is to address the concept of bullies and how to deal with them, (see http://www.helium.com/items/2353300-e...). This website suggests that the students could break up into groups and discuss how they would go about dealing with the bully. This will teach the students the proper way to handle any problems they will have with bullies in the future. This is a great way to take a story and teach kids a life lesson they will always use.
Reading Complexity:
The Lexile according to lexile.com is 410L. Appropriate for read aloud K+ and for independent reading by the beginning of 2nd grade.
The Billy Goats Gruff is a small chapter book about three goat brothers who have run out of food and have grown tired of their current surroundings. So the brothers decide they want to go to across the bridge to new land where no one else lives, they would soon find out why no one else lived there. The troll guarded the bridge and allowed no one to pass, until that is the three brothers crossed and finally defeated the troll. Once the troll was gone everyone else crossed the bridge and found more food and they were so proud of the brothers for getting rid of the troll.
The illustrations complemented the story very well and helped enhance the reader’s perceptions of what was happening in the story.
Response:
I awarded The Billy Goats Gruff four stars because I thought it was very well written. I really liked the concept of making this book into a chapter book as well. I think it will be a good introductory for the concept of a chapter book.
I also like the meaning behind this book that you have to stand up for yourself and to not let anyone pick on people just because they are smaller. It reminds me of how my older brother is always there for me to help me with my problems and to stand up for me when I need him to.
Classroom Connections:
I think this book would be a great introduction to the concept of chapter books. It is an easy read and can be used as a read allowed for kindergarten. A good lesson I found to use for this book is to address the concept of bullies and how to deal with them, (see http://www.helium.com/items/2353300-e...). This website suggests that the students could break up into groups and discuss how they would go about dealing with the bully. This will teach the students the proper way to handle any problems they will have with bullies in the future. This is a great way to take a story and teach kids a life lesson they will always use.
Reading Complexity:
The Lexile according to lexile.com is 410L. Appropriate for read aloud K+ and for independent reading by the beginning of 2nd grade.
March 20, 2013
This book is about three goats that are tired of living in the same area and at the same time have fun out of food. The three goats decide to look for new land and found some land that was across a bridge that looks like no one else has lived on before. When they tried crossing the bridge, they come across a troll that is guarding the bridge and will not let them pass. That is why no one has lived on the other side of the bridge, until the three goats defeated the troll and crossed the bridge. Once the other people saw that they had crossed the bridge, they all followed and found more food for everyone. The pictures in this book did help tell the story and also entertained me while I was reading the story.
I gave this book five stars because this is such a classic book and I remember being told part of this story when I was little, but never read the book until recently. The book has lived up to my memories. This reminds me of my best friend and I. We have been through a couple of incidents like the troll and the goats and we have always been there for each other.
I can connect this to my classroom by reading this out loud to the students as they read along with me in their own book. After we are done reading the book I would tell them to go back to their seats and have them take out their journal and write about what as if they were one of the goats and write about what kind of life they would want/ think they will have on the other side of the bridge before they crossed it. This will help them start thinking creatively and have them to start thinking about something before it actually happens.
The Lexile for this book is 410L and the guided reading is K. I would expect my students to be able to start reading this by second grade by themselves, but I think that any age would enjoy this book if they are interested in traditional fairy tales.
I gave this book five stars because this is such a classic book and I remember being told part of this story when I was little, but never read the book until recently. The book has lived up to my memories. This reminds me of my best friend and I. We have been through a couple of incidents like the troll and the goats and we have always been there for each other.
I can connect this to my classroom by reading this out loud to the students as they read along with me in their own book. After we are done reading the book I would tell them to go back to their seats and have them take out their journal and write about what as if they were one of the goats and write about what kind of life they would want/ think they will have on the other side of the bridge before they crossed it. This will help them start thinking creatively and have them to start thinking about something before it actually happens.
The Lexile for this book is 410L and the guided reading is K. I would expect my students to be able to start reading this by second grade by themselves, but I think that any age would enjoy this book if they are interested in traditional fairy tales.
February 28, 2013
The Bill Goats Gruff is a traditional fantasy about three Billy goats looking to leave the farm and find food over at the Juicy Fields. The Billy goats are hesitant because the bridge they have to cross is guarded by a big green warty troll. They have to come together to try and defeat the green troll in order to get to Juicy Fields. The illustrations help put the story into perspective, and guide the reader throughout the book in a humorous way.
This book made me laugh, and throughout their adventure the oldest brother kept saying that they needed to stick together. This book was showing some type of commonsense in the oldest brother. Also, towards the end of the book when they have to face their fears the oldest brother proves to have his younger brothers’ backs. Looking into content this portrays the message that at the end of the day family or some one will always be there for you. Which goes to show the kids that no matter what happens the people who are important in life will always be there for you.
This book would be a good book for beginning readers to read in a literature circle. It is short, but it is also a chapter book and has an easy plot to grasp. You can break the book down, and have a discussion after reading it about what are some things you do for other people. You could also read it to the class, and have a class discussion about what are some things people have done for you and what are some things that you do for other people. You could even have them write or draw something in regards to that depending on the grade level.
The lexile score from this book is a 410L and would be appropriate for a read aloud for kindergarten and up, and should be reading independently by the middle of second grade.
This book made me laugh, and throughout their adventure the oldest brother kept saying that they needed to stick together. This book was showing some type of commonsense in the oldest brother. Also, towards the end of the book when they have to face their fears the oldest brother proves to have his younger brothers’ backs. Looking into content this portrays the message that at the end of the day family or some one will always be there for you. Which goes to show the kids that no matter what happens the people who are important in life will always be there for you.
This book would be a good book for beginning readers to read in a literature circle. It is short, but it is also a chapter book and has an easy plot to grasp. You can break the book down, and have a discussion after reading it about what are some things you do for other people. You could also read it to the class, and have a class discussion about what are some things people have done for you and what are some things that you do for other people. You could even have them write or draw something in regards to that depending on the grade level.
The lexile score from this book is a 410L and would be appropriate for a read aloud for kindergarten and up, and should be reading independently by the middle of second grade.
October 4, 2011
J 398.2 BIN-[FOL]
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews