The suburban Priddle family is horrified when the Troll family moves in next door. It’s not just each Troll’s scary size and hairy appearance that’s so alarming. There is also little Edrik Troll’s roaring practice, the family’s decorating style..., and their diet: Mrs. Priddle believes that human children are the Trolls’ staple food. Gradually, though, the two families reach out, uncover misunderstandings, and inch toward friendship. Kids will hear the messages about cultural tolerance, but it’s the slapstick comedy that will draw readers into this first entry in the Troll Trouble series. ... Beech’s scribbly line drawings turn up the humor....

Three hairy trolls find the road to acceptance particularly rocky when they try to settle in a quiet suburb. ...it proves impossible to find decorative cow pies for their distressingly clean new house, juicy young goats to eat or much of a welcome from their horrified neighbors, the Priddles. .... Beech’s occasional ink-and-wash views of dismayed “peeples” facing grody-looking trolls decked out in bones and random tufts of hair underscore the lightly comic tone. ...no goats are harmed in the course of this mild farce.