The filthy world of trolls is revealed in its full and gruesome glory in this hugely entertaining story about poor Troll-Son who, in addition to his other many woes, has the misfortune to share an eyeball which is almost always lost with his parents. Troll-Son is always in trouble so, when his parents get a visit from the Betterer, a nasty character who preys on parents anxieties about their badly behaved children and offers to improve them with a spell in Bettering Towers, they readily accept. Rather than risk going to the grim Towers, Troll-Son escapes into the forest and sets out to find his human friend Samuel Blink. A sequel to Shadow Forest, this is both wonderfully disgusting and absolutely irresistible.
Samuel's not allowed to enter Shadow Forest. But what's to stop the forest from coming to him? There's one thing every troll child dreads more than anything - and that's being sent to the Betterer. The Betterer is the most evil troll in Shadow Forest who loves to punish his fellow trolls for their grubby and stupid habits in lots of horrible ways. When one troll boy escapes the forest to be with his favourite human, Samuel Blink, the Betterer is not very happy. Until he realizes that the most useful thing to have in his Bettering Tower would be a real life human child. So he places his Bettering Branch and Gripgrass Juice in his pockets and sets out on a quest into the human world beyond the forest to kidnap Samuel and the troll friend he's been hiding in his wardrobe...
This story is about finding your place in the world, but also about accepting what you have. There is adventure, excitement and danger and trolls seem to be having a bit of a literary resurgence at the moment so this will probably be a popular choice for 8-10-year-olds who want a challenging read. School Librarian 20090701 Children with a taste for magic and fantasy will find both - and a dollop of humour - in this second tale of Samuel Blink ... this entertaining thriller oozes comedy and suspense in equal measure Daily Mail
... thoroughly engaging and readable www.thebookbag.co.uk Fast, fun and furious action with a cast of humorous characters and creatures. A runaway hit TBK It is so good to have a children's book, full of fun and adventure ... a well-judged adventure for young readers, told in a proper story-teller's voice. Hurrah! Carousel
Author
About Matt Haig
Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. He has also written many books for children, including most recently the Sunday Times bestseller, The Truth Pixie, and he has won the Blue Peter Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize and been nominated three times for the Carnegie Medal. He has sold more than a million books in the UK and his work has been translated into over forty languages.
