Troll Trouble: The Three Billy Goats Buenos by Susan Middleton Elya

It's late summer. The sun is bright, the apples are ripening, and the luscious grass is at its thickest.

But the grass is always greener on the other side of the bridge, and the three billy goat brothers aim to do their grazing on the far side. But, ALAS! The bridge is not theirs to breach, but belongs to a gigante and grumpy troll who lives beneath. What to do?

The smallest goat tries his luck first. He claims that he lacks that certain savor trolls crave.

"Please," said the tiny cabrito. "I'm not sabroso.

Try my big brother. He's so delicioso!

The testy troll lets the little goat pass over the puente and into the green, grassy prado, so good for grazing.

The second, middle-sized billy goat approaches the puento, and the gigante shows his teeth in a terrible grin. Well, well!

"Numero dos! Here for the taking!

See these big chompers? Why aren't you shaking?"

But the middle-sized goat tries his younger brother's line, arguing that he's tasteless, too, and advising the troll to hold out for his larger, more savory hermano to come next.

So the troll rubs his warty chin and invites the shorty goat to come on into the meadow.

Now it's the turn for Billy Goat Numero Tres.

But why's this Troll so grumpy? Big Tres wanted to know.

His gentle eyes noticed the troll's swollen toe!

There is a big sharp espina stuck in his toe! And all good big brother goats know must know how to take out a thorn!

There's a remedy for that sore extremity, and soon all's well that ends well,

NO TOLL, SAYS THE TROLL! in Susan Middleton Elya's cleverly retold tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Billy Goats Buenos (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2020), with a slight plot line craftily lifted from Aesop's Fables, the story of The Lion and the Mouse, and with skillful interspersed Spanish vocabulary to spice up the familiar tale and with a nifty glossary as an introduction, most youngsters will find the meanings of the new words muy facile' from the flow of the context.

"As a read-aloud, this bouncy rhyming story, which smoothly incorporates Spanish words and encourages proper pronunciation, provides a great opportunity to discuss kindness," says Booklist.

The Go-To Guy! Piney the Goat Nanny by Leanne Lauricella

THIS IS THE STORY OF A PIGLET NAMED PINEY.

PINEY WAS SMALL, STRIPED, AND ROUND AS A WATERMELON.

The adopted orphan Piney has an idyllic piglet-hood, playing in the sun with the little goats and sleeping snug inside in his comfy bed at night. But Piney's foster mom, who takes care of the farm animals, points out that all the animals on the farm have a job.

Piney wants a job like all the other animals, but he can't eat bugs like the chickens or chomp the weeds like the goats. He fails at helping with housekeeping when he gets hopelessly tangled in the vacuum cleaner cord. It seems the only thing he's good at is sleeping!

But when an abandoned goat kid turns up needing foster care, Piney pitches in by offering the little goat, hopefully named Prospect, a warm place beside him in his little quilted bed. Prospect thrives as Piney teaches him his other skill--eating-- and Piney the Pig takes charge when a little three-legged baby goat turns up. With Piney's attention and tutelage, the little kid grows fast and learns to gallop around like all the other little goats. But now poor Piney is out of a job again.

PINEY WAS SAD.

"I WISH I WERE A GOAT."

But Piney proves that he's got the right stuff to be the go-to goat when two more orphans, Lila and Chib, turn up, needing a warmhearted foster parent, and before long Piney finds fame and a lifetime job as other babies needing special help find success under his care, in Leanne Lauricella's second book in series, GOA Kids - Goats of Anarchy: Piney the Goat Nanny: A true story of a little pig with a big heart (Quarto Group, 2018).  Stories of cross-species nurturing have become quite common, and Lauricella's story of the pig who parents baby goats is a sweet and true one, As author Lauricella's appendix portrays, this is a true story of her famous goat farm in which even a pig can find a lifework in raising orphaned animals.  Lovingly illustrated by Jill Howarth's gentle, textured art, this one is the companion book to Lauricella's GOA Kids - Goats of Anarchy: The Goat with Many Coats: A true story of a little goat who found a new home (see review here). Says Kirkus Reviews, "The loving encounters among animals of different species (and Lauricella's real-world endeavor to help animals with special needs) are great examples to help children develop empathy."

Homing! Goat With Many Coats (A True Story) by Leanne Lauricella

It was a December night, cold and bright, when Prospect was born.

The trees rustled and the stars shone through the falling snow.

As tiny as a tea-cup, Prospect's prospects don't look so good. He seems to be an orphan goat, struggling alone to stand on his long, thin legs.

His family was nowhere to be seen.

But Prospect is lucky to have someone who soon adopts him. A woman comes and takes him away, asleep on her lap, as she drives the little kid to his new foster home. Because he is so little and young, his baby fuzz is not enough to keep him warm, so she gives him a special gift, a goat coat in bright colors, to keep him warm while he grows his own warm fur. And as he grows, he sports several new coats!

Soon Prospect had a coat for every occasion. He even had a cape that made him feel like a Super Goat!

But little goats grow up, and as warm weather comes, he outgrows his coats and his own furry coat start getting silky and thick. At first he feels strangely exposed without his clothes, but the other goats give him a rousing M-A-A-A of approval.

There are many stories of dog rescues and cat rescues out there, but GOA Kids - Goats of Anarchy: The Goat with Many Coats: A true story of a little goat who found a loving and caring new home (Walter Foster Books, 2017) is indeed a true story of a rescue goat, lovingly raised by author Leanne Lauricella, animal advocate and blogger, and now author. The illustrations by Jill Howarth are warm and humorous, and author Lauricella appends appealing color photos of little Prospect growing up in his many goat coats and hoodie.

A Horse of Another Color: A Unicorn Named Sparkle by Amy Young

Lucy couldn't believe the ad in the newspaper!

UNICORN: 25 Cents

What a deal! She sends off her order with her quarter posthaste!

SHE COULD HARDLY WAIT!

"I'LL NAME HIM SPARKLE!

HE'LL BE BLUE, WITH A PINK TAIL AND PINK MANE!"

Lucy is lost in rapture as she dreams of bedecking her unicorn with flowers, feeding him upon pastel-frosted cupcakes, riding upon his white back under canopies of rainbows. It's a girl's dream.

But when the truck arrives and opens up the back doors, what emerges is not what Lucy was looking for.

Her unicorn is short and squat. His ears are way too big and his horn is not exactly magnificent. He has spots and ... well, fleas. He doesn't smell at all nice. And his voice is anything but mellifluous.

B-A-A-A-A!

Okay. This unicorn might need a bit of a makeover.

Lucy drapes a garland of flowers s around Sparkle's short scrawny neck.

HE ATE IT.

She dressed him in a pink tutu.

HE ATE THAT, TOO!

This is not a good unicorn! Lucy stomps off, but Sparkle follows right behind, nibbling her skirt.

This will not do! Lucy phones the Unicorn Man.

"TAKE HIM BACK!" SHE ORDERED.

The unicorn man promises to re-possess Sparkle tomorrow. Lucy is not happy being stuck with a defective unicorn who follows her everywhere and, (ugghhh!) licks her. She can't wait for the truck to arrive.

But that night there is a dreadful thunderstorm and Sparkle is terrified.

W-A-A-A-A!

Lucy hurries to help, bringing along her Bear-Bear to comfort him. When that doesn't do the trick, she tries warming some milk and reading him her favorite bedtime books. Finally, Sparkle closes his big eyes and Lucy falls asleep against his soft fur. (Presumably Lucy had managed a flea bath during page turns!)

And when the unicorn man's truck pulls up the next morning to haul Sparkle away, he bleats piteously and...

Well, young readers will guess what happens next, in Amy Young's latest charmer, A Unicorn Named Sparkle (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016).

As Mick Jagger sang sardonically in the sixties,

"You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
But if you try, sometime... you get what you need!"

The perfect pet is the one who loves you, as Lucy learns that even a goat with one weird horn can be just plain loving and lovable, too. Young's pen and watercolor illustrations are comic and charming, with just the right touch of glittery fairy dust about Lucy's unicorn dreams and the right touch of reality as the stubborn girl meets the ornery goat and both emerge as winners.