Muncle Trogg

Sometimes a film comes out that makes me want to borrow a small child to go see it in the cinema. With my own children now taller than me in both cases, skulking into some animated adventure along with my wife feeling like we really should have grown up by now can be a humbling experience. Short of randomly claiming a couple of those small bodies as our own - effectively buying stranger's children pop-corn! - we either wait until the DVD comes out or hang our heads, flip up our collars so no-one can clock us and push through society's sensibilities about what denotes adult behaviour. Hey, perhaps it's society's sensibilities that are out-of-kilter!Muncle Trogg makes me want to have small children to read out loud too again just like Toy Story 3 made me want to have them to take to the cinema. I'm sure my two strapping lads would put up with it - 'well, if you must dad!' - but it wouldn't be a perfect storybook moment. You'd want a 5 - 9 year old, hanging on your every word as you did the giant, gruff voices and slammed and banged and groaned and left them waiting on cliff-hanger chapters until next time ('Please dad, just one more chapter!). Muncle Trogg is a gorgeous children's book which would appeal to boys and girls alike. There's dragons and reading and heroics for the girls, there's warts, worms and fights for the boys. Muncle is a giant, the smallest giant in the world. He lives in Mount Grumble with all of the other giants who've been hidden away there since the smallings (humans) developed the technology (magic fire sticks aka guns!) to deal with their constant incursions.Muncle Trogg as a story has everything any self-respecting child, both small and big, would want. There's fast-paced action, there's slimy worms and slugs, there's warts and hair and dragons and poo. There's also heroics and bullies and the necessary happily ever after. Muncle comes from a very poor family and he's a pretty rubbish giant. He's missed lots of school and is a laughing stock amongst much of the giant community because he is so small. He's about to fail his Giant Examinations and he has no idea what he wants to do for a living. Muncle, as we expect of our eponymous heroes in our fables and fairy stories, is feisty, clever and sees much that others don't. He is also caring and empathetic, qualities that other giants see as weaknesses, but which turn out - told you there was a happy ending - to be his most important features.Muncle Trogg is a great creation in a long tradition of great children's characters. His exploits in this book are short but sweet and packing so much action if you were reading it out loud there'd be times when you'd need to take a breath! Muncle isn't pretty or powerful, but he has the luck of the hero and the enormous benefit of having a higher IQ than virtually everyone around him, except perhaps for the human child in the story or his mother.I would heartily recommend this story for children of all ages, if you don't have one to read too, borrow one, although it's probably best to ask first!A wonderful modern fairy story, suffused with slams, crashes and slapstick and big-hearted humour that will get them laughing out loud. And as you would expect from a fable, a great moral too.**** (Four stars)PS - Other Muncle Trogg stories are available; Muncle Trogg and The Flying Donkey.PPS - I read this book for my "Art of Story" Golden Egg course, but I think I would have read it anyone :)

As the smallest giant in Mount Grumble, Muncle Trogg is a disappointment to his parents. Laughed at for being human-sized (the giants call them `Smallings') he's too tiny to be good at the things that giants should be good at - like mining and dragon keeping - and deliberately misses school. But exams are coming up, which Muncle has to pass to get a good job. His only chance is in Smalling Studies, which he's sure he could pass given that he's their size so he decides to leave the mountain to see what he can learn about a nearby village that's full of them. What happens though sets off a chain of events that threatens all of the giants - and only Muncle can save them.Janet Foxley's debut novel won The Times Children's Fiction Competition in 2010 and it's easy to see why. This is a charming and funny story but there's still a sensitive core there that'll make you feel sorry for Muncle as you cheer him on.Muncle is badly bullied by the other giants - even his own brother likes to pick him up and dangle him upside down - and no-one, not his parents and certainly not his teachers do anything about it. In fact the giants don't realise how much they're physically hurting poor Muncle, who's more fragile than them because of his size. It's no wonder therefore that he chooses to skive school and it means that you root doubly hard for him when he realizes the Smalling Studies is his key to a better future. His scenes with Biblos, the Wise Man, are lovely to read, the kindly giant being the only one to believe that Muncle has something to offer and who gives him a purpose.Because Muncle knows what it's like to be hurt, he's also the only one who realises that the way the giants treat the dragons - clipping their wings to stop them from flying and forcing them to drink water so they can't breathe fire - is cruel. The scenes with the runaway dragon Snarg are also a joy as they each learn to love their freedom.The illustrations by Steve Wells deserve special mention as they really add to the humour of the book (and there were a lot of scenes that had me sniggering).The book ends with a set-up for a sequel, which I will definitely be reading.

Muncle Trogg was a very good book. It had a good storyline and had funny jokes. I liked the characters and I liked the adventures. It had sadness and happy things too. The best bit was when Muncle had to pretend they'd made a volcano because he had to get the dragon to burn the rocks. The funniest bit was when the King says, `This is going to take a bit of getting used to' and Muncle says, `You can say that again!' and the King says, `This is going to take a bit of getting used to!'. I would give Muncle Trogg five stars.

Muncle Trogg was actually better than I expected! The idea of a titchy giant has huge appeal. However, the humour, action and the way Muncle just got on with things and triumphed was a joy. Good fun, with some subtle messages about bullying and how goodness and intelligence can win against the odds (and the odd size!). A pleasant short book for 6-9 year olds.

Price was fab, can’t grumble at 4p, said was in good condition which I suppose is a matter of opinion, this book had folded paper and stains on it. Did the job tho as son had lost school book.