KENTUCKY TROLL
by Juanita Havill & illustrated by Bert Dodson
Young Troll—ever curious about people—stows away on a sailing ship from Sweden and ends up in Kentucky, where no one has heard of trolls. On the advice of a farmer who politely ignores his bizarre features, and with the help of some magic dust, Young Troll builds a cabin, gets a cow, and starts to sell butter, hoping to attract a wife with the money. Scheming for the secret of the fine butter, the storekeeper volunteers his pretty daughter Becky as helper. Young Troll begins to explain trolls to Becky; incredulous at first, she's convinced when she sees him dropping magic dust into the churn. Horrified, she runs back to her father; Young Troll retreats to the woods, cured of wanting to be human. In Dodson's lively pencil and watercolor illustrations, the overalled troll is appealingly ugly in the manner of the popular toys; the longish tale makes an entertaining analogue to their recent US invasion. (Picture book. 4-8)