Billy Goats Gruff - Rough Stuff!
Matthew Shelton
language
(Matthew Shelton, Feb. 25, 2014)
REVIEWS:âAwesomeness for readi.g and singing to kids(children)ââLively and FUN!ââAWESOME BOOKââClever twist on an old storyââAdorableâLISTEN to the Audiobook demo to really get an idea of how fresh and fun this is: http://www.audible.com/pd/B00IJF9WBG/ Each character has a voice and many have a song or two to sing â even the troll!Billy Goats Gruff â Rough Stuff! is a greatly extended improvement of the original story, with many new characters, more than TWICE the length of the old story (note: no âpicturesâ) Billy Goats Gruff â Rough Stuff!â is great to read aloud - with lessons on courage, diversity, innovation, having a plan, small woodland creatures show their surprising qualities and worth, and demonstrate how each of the creatures (even the goats!) fit into the scheme of things.THE STORY:The Billy Goats Gruff are stuck on one side of the stream where they are very unhappy â not because they had nothing to eat, but because everything they wanted to eat was on the other side of the stream â weeds! (Goats actually are browsers, preferring to eat weeds and shrubs). Across the stream are some cattle characters, Bessie and Bessemer, and they are very unhappy too because they are grazers, wanting to eat grass, which was all on the goatsâ side of the stream.So both the cows and the goats want to get across the stream, but the bridge across is guarded by a mean mysterious troll that no one has ever even seen.Big Billy Goat decides that he can figure out a way across the stream without crossing the bridge and comes up with many ridiculous schemes involving all the characters on the goats side of the bridge, including a sassy possum and even a copperhead snake who becomes a hero almost despite himself.Everyone knows the part of the story where Little Billy crosses the bridge first, then Middle Billy, and finally Big Billy, but the how and why of it now makes sense and includes lots of extra character revelations and motivations and even as part of the story teaches some values:Values:The value of a PlanThe value of courageThe value of being innovativeThe value of friendshipLoyaltyPersistence in the face of difficultyFacing your fearsBeing an individualThe confrontation with the Troll is quite dramatic and goes much further than the original story â in fact it doesnât end just with the troll getting knocked from the bridge â other creatures come into play here.Thereâs at least one more big surprise for the Billy Goats when they get to the other side that your kids will love.