Lola and the Troll / Connie Schultz ; [illustrated by] Sandy Rodríguez.

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A debut picture book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Connie Schultz,about a young girl named Lola who decides to be brave and stand up to a bully.

Lola is a happy kid who loves recess and her imaginary dog, Tank. There's just one problem- the neighborhood bully. He hides behind a troll costume and says mean things to everyone who walks by, including Lola. Soon she starts wearing her hair differently, walking on her tippy toes to add a few extra inches to her height, and even putting cornstarch in her shoes because he said her feet stink! But when Lola's mom takes her to her favorite place, The Bee's Sneeze bookstore, the owner, Ms. Sneesby, reminds Lola that she LOVES her curly hair, her bright smile, and her big eyes. And most importantly, Ms. Sneesby reminds Lola that she is brave.

Lola and the Troll is about remembering how to be brave, even when it's hard, and realizing that some-times all a bully really needs is a little kindness.

Author Notes

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and Professor of Practice in Journalism at Denison University. Her favorite job title is Grandma. She is the author of a collection of essays, Life Happens , and a political memoir, ...and His Lovely Wife. Her first novel , The Daughters of Erietown, was a New York Times bestseller in 2020 . Schultz lives in Cleveland with her husband, Sherrod Brown, and their two rescue dogs, Franklin and Walter, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Lola's pup, Tank. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

Sandy Rodriguez is a self-taught artist and illustrator. She grew up in Mexico surrounded by lots of family. (She has more than 30 cousins!) Inspired by everyday moments, Sandy loves creating playful characters with quirky personalities. Her favorite medium is watercolor and ink, but she also experiments with colored paper, gouache, and some digital magic. Sandy lives in London with her husband and two fantastic daughters. She is also the illustrator for Perla, the Mighty Dog! by Isabel Allende.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3--Lola is a girl who adores everything about school. Getting to school, however, is decidedly unenjoyable. Lola's walk is plagued by Tom the Troll. Tom torments the neighborhood children, holding up insulting signs and laughing as they hurry past. Despite trying her best to be brave, Lola takes Tom's taunts to heart. When he calls her feet smelly, she fills her shoes with cornstarch. When he makes fun of her hair, she ties it up tight. Lola becomes less and less herself until a kind bookstore owner intervenes, giving Lola the confidence to stand up to the troll. It turns out the troll is just the new kid on the block, seeking attention from the other children. A little lecture from Lola and the offer of friendship easily wraps everything up, making readers wonder what was so scary about the troll in the first place. The illustrations are adorable, but are discordant with and even struggle to depict the text. Tom may terrify Lola but his appearance is silly; and while much is made of Lola's wild curls, her hair appears straight on the pages. VERDICT An oversimplified take on trolls and incongruent illustrations keeps this from being a bully book worth purchasing.--Alia Shields

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a chapter book--scale story that's full of moral conviction, Schultz (The Daughters of Erietown, for adults) writes about a child learning how to stand up to a bully. Each morning, tan-skinned Lola and her classmates hurry past Tom the Troll, who stands costumed in a doorway holding handmade signs that bear pointed personal insults. Accused of having "too big" hair, a loud voice, and more, Lola tries to change, tying her curls in a bun "the size of one of Grandma's drop biscuits" and speaking in whispering tones. "Is this still... me?" she wonders. When Lola's favorite bookseller, Ms. Sneesby, sees the change in Lola and names the problem ("What a bully. He must be very afraid of you"), it gives Lola the courage to unmask Tom. With doll-like cuteness, Rodriguez draws Lola; her tiny, often-invisible dog Tank ("small on the outside means mighty on the inside"); and her peers, portrayed with various skin tones, in the end rendering Tom as more hapless than menacing. Though wobbly logic undercuts the telling, this double picture book debut offers up a sparky protagonist and an instructive model of confronting cruelty head-on. Ages 4--8. (Feb.)

Kirkus Review

A group of kids take a troll to task. A troll named Tom lives in Lola's neighborhood. In Rodriguez's delicate artwork, he's tall and bizarre looking, with party hats for ears and oven mitts over his hands, and as kids walk past, he holds up signs plastered with insulting messages tailored to what he sees. No one likes the troll, but his comments cut. Most try to avoid Tom, but a light-skinned girl named Lola takes the messages to heart and slowly changes herself in an attempt to avoid criticism. After Lola has a heartfelt conversation with a bookstore owner about how bullies are the ones who are really afraid, she and the other kids stand up to the troll, revealed to be a short, light-skinned boy who's "new to this neighborhood" and "just wanted…attention." Many pages are crammed full of text, and one central metaphor feels overexplained as Lola describes herself as "tall on the inside," which is apparently "what counts." This story attempts to deliver an old-fashioned message about bullying through the modern concept of an internet troll, but neither element works especially well in this earnest text that naïvely imagines that all conflicts can be resolved through conversation and that trolls can be scared away through honesty and confidence. Too idealistic by half. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Author Schultz won the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2005 for her advocacy of the underdog in her writing for Cleveland's The Plain Dealer. Now, her debut children's book represents child underdogs, the victims of bullying. Heroine Lola loves school, but she and the other kids dread the walk there and back because of one "scary, hairy" reason: Tom the Troll, a huge creature in a kind of scarecrow outfit who makes fun of the kids who walk (or run) past his house. The kids' avoidance methods, showcased on two pages, are sometimes arduous, sometimes comical, and Lola is a special target of the bully, who creates signs just for her. The problem is that she buys into the taunts and chooses the worst avoidance tactic, changing herself to escape his criticisms. But when an adult convinces her to confront him, Lola learns the bully is far more frightened than she is. The illustrations, done with watercolor, ink, and colored paper, are filled with comic details, sure to keep readers engaged. Thought-and-action provoking.

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