Review Detail

In this Rock N Roll Fairy Tale from Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, youll find adventure aplenty, danger galore, and a nice rocking beat to go along with it all. Told from two alternating view points (Moira, a teen who also happens to be a classical harpist, and Jakob, a talented pop musician and member of a boy band), theres lots of action, humor, and even a touch of romance.

Moira has won a spot as one of twelve Dairy Princesses (she only ran to help out her career and get publicity, though she has made some good friends among the other Princesses) and that means she has to show up for publicity photos and things like that. She arrives a bit late at a photo shoot at the Vanderby bridge, but just in time to see a giant troll spirit her friends and the photographer away. Without thinking about it, she grabs onto his shirttails to try to save her friends and is spirited away into Trollholm.

You see, the troll Aenmarr had made a pact with the people of Vanderby many, many years ago. Each year the people of the town were supposed to leave 12 princesses on the bridge for the troll to take and eat and in return, he would leave them alone for the rest of the year. The tradition of live princesses had only been kept for a few years; for the last hundred or so, the townspeople had been carving the Princesses heads out of butter and leaving those on the bridge. But this year, the new mayor had put a stop to that for environmental reasons. After all, who believes in trolls in this day and age?

Well, Moira, for one, now does. And not just trolls she soon meets Fossegrim, a talking fox, who says he will help her if she will help him get his magic fiddle away from the trolls. She doesnt trust him completely, but doesnt know what else to do, so she goes along with his plan.

Meanwhile, the Griffson brothers (three brothers who also perform together as a boy band), are on the road and taking a much-needed break from their touring schedule. They happen to come across that same bridge and are tricked by Foss into going across it at which point Aenmarr spirits them away to be his dinner!

Jakob, the youngest at almost-sixteen, escapes through a bit of luck and the stupidity of one of Aenmarrs sons. He frees his brother Eric and they meet up with Moira and Foss, believing their older brother Galen to be dead (and digested). They return to the troll homes (Aenmarr has three wives and three sons) to try and rescue the enchanted Dairy Princesses

But rescue is, of course, not that easy and the teens find help in unexpected places. I hate to say anything else because I dont want to give anything away.

The story is loosely based on two different fairy tales (The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Three Billy Goats Gruff) put together in an entirely new and innovative way. This is a great story, pretty much pitch-perfect and I highly recommend it for fantasy lovers of all ages, but especially those 10 and up. An interesting side note Stemple is a real rocker himself, and also the son of Jane Yolen.