"The boy thought for a minute.
Then he drew a cat with only half
its whiskers ...
and a dog without a tail.
This time he left the whole box of
chalk behind and went to play."
Community children play together in a park near a cave. Within that cave lives a mean, loud, and unfriendly troll who warns them to stay away ... so they do. They decide to play on the other side of the park where they can no longer hear the troll. One boy is drawn to the cave; he invites the troll to come outside. He is rebuffed.
He leaves and then comes back with a box of chalk. On the space in front of the cave, he uses that chalk to draw a flower, leaving one of the petals uncolored and a piece of blue chalk alongside. When he returns, the petal is colored in. The troll, though invited, refuses to come out of the cave while the boy is there. The boy continues to do his best to entice the troll outside where they can talk. The troll remains resistant even when the boy praises the troll's artwork.
With no ideas left, the boy draws a boy holding out his hand and smiling. He leaves his chalk when he has completed the image. At his next visit, a big scary troll in holding the chalk boy's hand. Standing quietly at the front of the cave, he tells the voice inside that he is not a troll. Once again, said troll is invited outside. Nothing happens until he erases the troll and adds the picture of another boy who looks much like he does.
What happens next is exactly what takes place when kids are left to solve a problem with their own innate kindness.
David Litchfield's digital illustrations raise this kind story to an even higher level, offering appealing and colorful images throughout the telling.
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