Read An Awfully Beastly Business 3 – Bang Goes a Troll free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
David Sinden's Bang Goes a Troll is a monster rescue adventure for 6 year olds about a werewolf boy who stows away on a mission to a snowy mountain.
Ulf lives at the RSPCB, a rescue centre for rare and endangered beasts. There's a griffin in the aviary, a gargoyle on the roof and a ghost in the old library. Ulf is a werewolf himself, so when the moon is full he changes from boy to wolf.
Then a little black bat flies in carrying a one-word message. HELP! It's from a goblin spotter on Honeycomb Mountain in Norway. Dr Fielding and Orson the giant fly off to check. Ulf isn't allowed to go, so he sneaks into the back of the helicopter anyway (and his fairy friend Tiana is already hiding in there).
Your reader knows from the very first chapter what Ulf doesn't. The villain, Baron Marackai, has been smoking trolls out of that same mountain for a hunting range, with paying guests.
Underground it's creepy and gross in the best way. A blind cave mantis. Leeches that hang from the ceiling like rocks and drink blood. A giant maggot that Ulf has to squeeze past (it only eats bat poo, apparently). And an enormous spider.
The baddies are beast hunters and they talk about it with real relish. There are rifles, darts, a whole table of weapons and a toast to "the thrill of the kill". The spider's cave is full of dead owls and bats too. If your reader gets upset about animals being hunted or hurt, this might be a lot. If they love a proper villain to boo at, it's a thrill.
Ulf is a lovely hero. He's brave and kind, and he's the only one who thinks a goblin might be worth helping when everyone else says goblins are smelly thieves.
This is the third Awfully Beastly Business book. There are hints of Ulf's earlier run-ins with the Baron, but you can follow it without them.
If they're hungry for more beasts, Ferno the Fire Dragon is where Tom's Beast Quest adventures begin, with something scorching the fields around his village.
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