Troll World

The Times (of London)  critic Amanda Craig finds much to like in  the work of Katherine Langrish, the author of Troll Fell. Craig's reviews are brimming with intelligence. Here's a bit from her look at Langrish's latest,  Troll Mill:

All children between the ages of 7 and 9 have to study the Vikings in history lessons, and few fail to become fascinated by their melancholy mixture of violence and culture, which form part of our deepest literary roots. Too many children get a whiff of this world only through the secondary world created by Tolkien, who used many of its myths and customs to create the world of The Lord of the Rings. Yet until very recently, the beliefs and customs of this infinitely intriguing society were ignored by children’s writers. Of all of them, Langrish comes closest in describing what it must have been like to farm and fish and grow up in those times, and her work is rooted in a natural landscape no less convincing because it contains the supernatural.

Note: Langrish's books are  available in the United States. Troll Fell was included in the New York Public Library's Children's Books, 2004: One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing, which you can order from the NYPL for three dollars or so. I can't tell from the description if it's just a list or a pamphlet.