THE HAPPY TROLL
by Max Bolliger & illustrated by Peter Sís & translated by Nina Ignatowicz
First U.S. edition of an economically told moral tale, in which a troll loses his beautiful singing voice after a yen for gold turns him prideful. Shunned by his fellows and having lost his songs too, he regains it all by undertaking a long journey to give the gold back. If only it were really so simple. Oh well. Sís seamlessly reworks his illustrations for the original (in which the troll and his folk were dubbed dwarves, but really seem more fairylike) with ground-level natural scenes populated by fuzzy-haired, mouse-sized, childlike human figures in antique dress. Young readers with a taste for measured, thought-provoking tales carried along upon whimsical illustrations will linger here. (Picture book. 6-8)