KIRKUS REVIEW
Family...is right where we belong.
Most trolls are messy and mucky and like scaring people. The hairy troll named Timothy Limpet is different; he’s “nice and polite and tidy.” (The other trolls don’t like him.) He looks like a crazy quilt: His head is a big blue ball, his cup-shaped body has green polka dots, and his limbs sport colorful stripes. Meanwhile, there’s a little girl named Tabitha Lumpit, who’s brash and messy and loud and acts altogether like...well, you know. One day, Tabitha and Timothy, not looking where they’re going, literally bump heads. Each immediately sees that the other is quite different from what one would expect, and they get an idea—to switch places. Tabitha goes to stay with the trolls, and Timothy moves in with Tabitha’s parents. At first, everything works out well. Then Mommy and Daddy start to miss Tabitha, just as the trolls begin to miss Timothy, and both Tabitha and Timothy find being with people just like them is kind of boring. They decide to swap back and “go home, where they belonged,” and everybody lives happily ever after. Hodgkinson’s story, while hardly revolutionary, is satisfying. Design elements add much appeal, with childlike stylings and exaggerated perspectives. In a nifty touch, the text in dialogue bubbles is neatly typed for the “nice” characters and looks like clumsy block lettering for the “mucky.”
Appealing. (Picture book. 3-6)
