The Three Billy Goats Buenos by Susan Middleton Elya (review)

The familiar Billy Goats Gruff yarn, respun here in rhyme and with a kinder, gentler end, is tailormade for sharing with a storytime audience of English and Spanish speakers. The two littlest cabritos take on their customary roles of outsmarting the threatening bridge troll by promising a better meal to come, but the kind-hearted third goat realizes the troll is not only hungry but also injured, and the kid enlists his hermanos to help treat the troll's thorn-stuck toe (a comically gross undertaking for animals without hands) and bring manzanas from across the river for desayuno. Spanish words and phrases dance agilely throughout Elya's verses, and each couplet ends in a rhyme that will be predictable for kids comfortable in one, either, or both languages: "But under the bridge lived a grumpy gigante/ with tootsies as big as a small elefante." Ordóñez's pencil, collage, and digital compositions are sleek and playful; the bulky, softly rounded troll is about as threatening as an oversized stuffy, and the boxy, wide-eyed goats feel like wooden toys ready to do the bidding of a kindly storyteller. A glossary with pronunciations and accents precedes the tale, offering support to Anglophone readers who could use an assist.