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kathydavie's review
5.0
A standalone fantasy adventure story about two children — one good, and the other, well, not-so-good, in Blue Wing, a little town alongside the Mississippi River, in early May.
My Take
I like Helgerson’s start with the mean Duke and then Claire’s note of the “queer old chunk of water”. That narrative hook pulled me right into Horns & Wrinkles, dying to know what came next in this quirky story as told in first-person protagonist point-of-view from Claire's perspective.
There is a sweetness and innocence to Claire despite her knowing her cousin too well while Duke fits right in with those nasty, too funnily dressed trolls. As for the troll culture Helgerson has dreamed up, wa-a-ay too funny.
You do have to appreciate Claire’s adventurousness and quickness of thought as she works to stay ahead of this trio of river trolls.
It's absolute nonsense and totally fun!
The Story
How can you tell if a river’s under a spell? River trolls, rock trolls, blue-wing fairies — the usual suspects — the stretch of the Mississippi where Claire lives has rumors of them all, not that she’s ever spotted any.
But then Claire’s cousin Duke takes a swim and sprouts a horn — a long, pointy, handsome thing. After that, Claire doesn’t have much choice but to believe that something rivery is going on, especially since she’s the only one who can help Duke lose his new addition.
The Characters
Claire Bridgewater is twelve years old with a love for rivery animals such as Lottie, her box turtle who lives in the closet and Three, her toad who lives in a wool sock. Tessa is the youngest sister while Lillie is the older and Fragile Fran is the oldest. Mom works at the department store. Dad works the graveyard shift at a bakery. Grandpa Bridgewater comes for the show and tells of the horns their great-great-great-grandpa Huntington Bridgewater and his brother Floyd had had back in the day. Nettie is the girl who became Huntington's wife. Second-cousin Alfie had a run-in with river trolls; Cousin Ernie couldn’t help touching Alfie.
Duke is Claire’s mean young cousin whose parents have finally resorted to discipline. His parents are Norm who runs the No Leash Dog Obedience College and Phyllis who is a school nurse. Duff is their springer spaniel.
Blue Wing is…
…a small town along the Mississippi River. Sheriff Tommy Pope is realistic about the river trolls. Dr. E.O. Moneybaker is the only rhinoceros horn expert in the area and lives in a retirement home. One-shot is a newspaper photographer.
Big Rock is…
…a town where sits Trolls & Things, a shop that sells screens by the old lady in the canoe, a blue-wing fairy with no name who has an older brother. Pumpkin is his retriever. Prince Leopold, a muskrat, and Princess Trudy, a raccoon, are friends of hers. Farmer Bailey’s field is home to the sinkhole.
Stump, Squeak “Biz” (he intends to be King Biz Mossbottom the First, and he’s married to Muck, Weed, and Scale Crowleg, all sisters who can see a day ahead into the future) Mossbottom, and Jim Dandy are river trolls in cahoots with Duke. Two-cents Eel-tongue is Jim’s mother while that no-good Double-knot is his missing father. Fancy Leechlicker is Jim’s sulky wife. Duckwad is Stump’s missing brother. Wishy Gartooth can see into next week, if the pay is good. Great-aunt Tar-and-feathers Slice-Toe, Biz’s relative, owns a stone glove.
Reliable St. John is a cricket.
Bodacious Deepthink, a.k.a., Bo the Great Rock Troll, has terrified the area’s trolls with her obsession with the moon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is soft browns, dark ones and light ones, for it’s night along the Mississippi River with a sliver of moon in the sky, shining down on the river with its islets of grass. It’s the rhino-horned dark-T-shirt-wearing Duke standing back-to-back with the defiant Claire in her red and white horizontally striped top with both staring out of the cover.
The title is a combination of the rhino Horns & Wrinkles in plans and old people caught up.
My Take
I like Helgerson’s start with the mean Duke and then Claire’s note of the “queer old chunk of water”. That narrative hook pulled me right into Horns & Wrinkles, dying to know what came next in this quirky story as told in first-person protagonist point-of-view from Claire's perspective.
There is a sweetness and innocence to Claire despite her knowing her cousin too well while Duke fits right in with those nasty, too funnily dressed trolls. As for the troll culture Helgerson has dreamed up, wa-a-ay too funny.
”’…“you’re” the snack.’’Now, wait a minute,’ Duke said, gagging. ‘You guys told me to eat!’Suddenly all the other rhinos lowered their heads…”It’s all about bullies and the horrible things that happen to them…and the only way they can change back.
You do have to appreciate Claire’s adventurousness and quickness of thought as she works to stay ahead of this trio of river trolls.
It's absolute nonsense and totally fun!
The Story
How can you tell if a river’s under a spell? River trolls, rock trolls, blue-wing fairies — the usual suspects — the stretch of the Mississippi where Claire lives has rumors of them all, not that she’s ever spotted any.
But then Claire’s cousin Duke takes a swim and sprouts a horn — a long, pointy, handsome thing. After that, Claire doesn’t have much choice but to believe that something rivery is going on, especially since she’s the only one who can help Duke lose his new addition.
The Characters
Claire Bridgewater is twelve years old with a love for rivery animals such as Lottie, her box turtle who lives in the closet and Three, her toad who lives in a wool sock. Tessa is the youngest sister while Lillie is the older and Fragile Fran is the oldest. Mom works at the department store. Dad works the graveyard shift at a bakery. Grandpa Bridgewater comes for the show and tells of the horns their great-great-great-grandpa Huntington Bridgewater and his brother Floyd had had back in the day. Nettie is the girl who became Huntington's wife. Second-cousin Alfie had a run-in with river trolls; Cousin Ernie couldn’t help touching Alfie.
Duke is Claire’s mean young cousin whose parents have finally resorted to discipline. His parents are Norm who runs the No Leash Dog Obedience College and Phyllis who is a school nurse. Duff is their springer spaniel.
Blue Wing is…
…a small town along the Mississippi River. Sheriff Tommy Pope is realistic about the river trolls. Dr. E.O. Moneybaker is the only rhinoceros horn expert in the area and lives in a retirement home. One-shot is a newspaper photographer.
Big Rock is…
…a town where sits Trolls & Things, a shop that sells screens by the old lady in the canoe, a blue-wing fairy with no name who has an older brother. Pumpkin is his retriever. Prince Leopold, a muskrat, and Princess Trudy, a raccoon, are friends of hers. Farmer Bailey’s field is home to the sinkhole.
Stump, Squeak “Biz” (he intends to be King Biz Mossbottom the First, and he’s married to Muck, Weed, and Scale Crowleg, all sisters who can see a day ahead into the future) Mossbottom, and Jim Dandy are river trolls in cahoots with Duke. Two-cents Eel-tongue is Jim’s mother while that no-good Double-knot is his missing father. Fancy Leechlicker is Jim’s sulky wife. Duckwad is Stump’s missing brother. Wishy Gartooth can see into next week, if the pay is good. Great-aunt Tar-and-feathers Slice-Toe, Biz’s relative, owns a stone glove.
Reliable St. John is a cricket.
Bodacious Deepthink, a.k.a., Bo the Great Rock Troll, has terrified the area’s trolls with her obsession with the moon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is soft browns, dark ones and light ones, for it’s night along the Mississippi River with a sliver of moon in the sky, shining down on the river with its islets of grass. It’s the rhino-horned dark-T-shirt-wearing Duke standing back-to-back with the defiant Claire in her red and white horizontally striped top with both staring out of the cover.
The title is a combination of the rhino Horns & Wrinkles in plans and old people caught up.
harleyrae's review against another edition
2.0
Picking up this book the first thing I noticed was that the story was incredibly strange, it reminded me strongly of a Tim Burton movie. Now while in my head I could see all the characters made out of clay and used in a stop motion film, I did not enjoy this like I usually do with Tim Burton movies. I was bored for over half of the book. I didn't really care what happened. I ended up skin reading the last 100 pages to say that I finished it. I was incredibly close to DNFing this book. I had a very hard time finding a reason to continue on.
All in all I was not a fan of this book and would not recommend it.
All in all I was not a fan of this book and would not recommend it.
locke_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
szammi's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
My son was put off by the cover on this book, thinking it would be scary, so I read it first to check it out. It was so good. Not scary at all! Funny and unique. Excellent writing. I know my sensitive son will be put off by the first 2 pages where there is a bullying situation...but I am advising him to stick with the first chapter because it quickly escalates into magic and funny mayhem. I am definitely recommending it to him. I took .5 stars off because I was confused about the mission of the trolls. Without giving anything away, male trolls have to bring some things to another troll when their troll babies are about to hatch, in hopes of finding their fathers and/or some missing miners...? So I guess no trolls have fathers? They've all disappeared at some point after delivering things to this other troll? And for generations, trolls have been wondering about 3 missing miners? That whole part of the storyline was a little confusing to me, and never got 100% resolved...but this is written for middle grades and maybe they wouldn't think so much about it haha. Being a little confused about that didn't make me enjoy the book any less. I read this because we had read The Lost Galumpus by the same author and LOVED it. Highly recommend both.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying
bookworm151719's review
4.0
Not bad for a kid’s book. I was only left with one question at the end of it but it’s so minute I won’t dwell on it for long lol
hewbear13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lauraedosanjh's review
2.0
Whimsical and cute, though not very engaging. I found myself struggling to stay focused through some parts of the book, part due to the slow moving plot and part due to a yawning writing style.
The overall idea, the river troll characters, and the conclusion are very cute though. It's not a book you'll want to read more than once, though.
The overall idea, the river troll characters, and the conclusion are very cute though. It's not a book you'll want to read more than once, though.
gabs_myfullbookshelf's review
2.0
This review (and others) can be found on My Full Bookshelf
This book was definitely more quirky than funny, and not the good kind of quirky, either. It was the kind that makes you scratch your head and wonder what the heck you just read. Yes, the story is inventive; I will give the book that much. But it's still pretty bizarre, and I just could not bring myself to care for the characters in the slightest bit.
First, there is Claire. Claire's an overall 'meh' kind of character. I didn't not like her, I didn't like her all that much either. I wish her personality would have been fleshed out more; she started out as a character with a lot of potential; tomboy, can't relate to her sisters, loves frogs, turtles, and the like; but there really wasn't a lot of development from her at all throughout the book, and honestly, I personally don't think she contributed a lot to the story in the first place. She was just kind of a bystander in how everything ended up playing out, except for the very beginning.
Duke; he reminded me a lot of Dudley Dursley. He was mean, a bit of an idiot, and there was one scene where he just kept chowing down on food. I didn't feel any great love for Duke. Like at all. He was supposed to be unlikeable, though, so not a terrible thing.
The trolls, however, really annoyed me. I liked Frozen's take on them infinitely better; there was only one who was even slightly likeable in here.
The humor was simply put, bad. Not one thing registered as funny to me in this whole book, which is really kind of sad, especially when both the blurb and the cover claim this book is funny. It's not that it wasn't my kind of humor, either; the book really isn't that funny.
The storyline was really bizarre but really unique, I'll say that. I don't think I've ever read a book even slightly like this. Trolls themselves aren't something I see a lot in kid's/teen's books, but even if they were, I think this book would stand out. However, the storyline was so strange that I really never got into the book.
The one thing that I without a doubt loved was the illustrations. I never pay attention to the little pictures at the beginning of chapters, but with this book I would practically study them. They were adorable. And of course, this cover is just the cutest. I am seriously thinking of buying more of the illustrator's books just so I have the illustrations (and covers) to brighten up my day.
I'm giving this two stars because it was pretty imaginative, but other than that there weren't a lot of 'pluses' for me with this book.
This book was definitely more quirky than funny, and not the good kind of quirky, either. It was the kind that makes you scratch your head and wonder what the heck you just read. Yes, the story is inventive; I will give the book that much. But it's still pretty bizarre, and I just could not bring myself to care for the characters in the slightest bit.
First, there is Claire. Claire's an overall 'meh' kind of character. I didn't not like her, I didn't like her all that much either. I wish her personality would have been fleshed out more; she started out as a character with a lot of potential; tomboy, can't relate to her sisters, loves frogs, turtles, and the like; but there really wasn't a lot of development from her at all throughout the book, and honestly, I personally don't think she contributed a lot to the story in the first place. She was just kind of a bystander in how everything ended up playing out, except for the very beginning.
Duke; he reminded me a lot of Dudley Dursley. He was mean, a bit of an idiot, and there was one scene where he just kept chowing down on food. I didn't feel any great love for Duke. Like at all. He was supposed to be unlikeable, though, so not a terrible thing.
The trolls, however, really annoyed me. I liked Frozen's take on them infinitely better; there was only one who was even slightly likeable in here.
The humor was simply put, bad. Not one thing registered as funny to me in this whole book, which is really kind of sad, especially when both the blurb and the cover claim this book is funny. It's not that it wasn't my kind of humor, either; the book really isn't that funny.
The storyline was really bizarre but really unique, I'll say that. I don't think I've ever read a book even slightly like this. Trolls themselves aren't something I see a lot in kid's/teen's books, but even if they were, I think this book would stand out. However, the storyline was so strange that I really never got into the book.
The one thing that I without a doubt loved was the illustrations. I never pay attention to the little pictures at the beginning of chapters, but with this book I would practically study them. They were adorable. And of course, this cover is just the cutest. I am seriously thinking of buying more of the illustrator's books just so I have the illustrations (and covers) to brighten up my day.
I'm giving this two stars because it was pretty imaginative, but other than that there weren't a lot of 'pluses' for me with this book.