I am always on the lookout for traditional stories to use with KS2 pupils and it isn’t easy to find them. There are books such as Blackberry Blue by Jamila Gavin which play around with the traditional tales, mixing them up and making new stories. There are the subverted stories such as those by Beth Woollvin (Little Red, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretl) which I love. In these the female characters are often feisty and do something unexpected. But there is not often I find traditional tales that are traditional but not necessarily well-known.
Well, Seven Ways to Trick a Troll is just such a book. The premise of the book is that Trolls, creatures that are unpleasant and unkind, are not particularly bright and therefore it is possible to trick them. Each trick is introduced and there then follows a story which illustrates how the trolls are tricked in this manner. For example,
Troll Weakness One
Trolls hate loud noise, especially the sound of bells.
Trolls cab have several heads. This makes them especially hideous to look at and confusing to listen to because sometimes the heads talk at the same time. These many-headed trolls are prone to unbearable headaches brought on by loud noise. This is to your advantage.
The story that then follows – Little Goose – who tricks the troll by asking the villagers to blow their whistles, ring their bells and bang their pots and pans to scare off the troll. This pattern is followed for the seven tricks and makes a structure for the book that is easily replicable: Five Ways to Catch a Wolf, Six Ways to Trap a Giant etc.
At the end of the book is a section How to Spot a Troll and then there are the Sources which details where the stories have come from. It would be perfectly possible for Upper KS2 to write their own version of the book and for Lower KS2 to write a group version, each child writing just one story to go in the book.
Grammar that could be taught through the book:
- Showing character through dialogue verbs- it might be interesting to study to show character. For instance, which of these verbs might be used for a troll and which for the hero? Grunted, fretted, grumbled, called, drooled, cooed, said, and exclaimed.
- Creating tension through the use of -ing clauses in multi-clause sentences, e.g. exploring this underground world, forgetting all caution, shaking with rage.
- Providing cohesion through time adverbials
- The difference between the narrative writing and How to Spot a Troll.
This book would make a great book for KS2 teaching of writing.