Spotlight on Literacy #12 - Observing Trolls

One of our favorite stories by Tomie dePaola is Helga's Dowry: A Troll Love Story.  In some places in the world when a man and woman get married, the woman's family pays the man a dowry — money and goods that reward the man for agreeing to take care of the woman.  If the woman is poor, she is likely not going to have a very big dowry. 
In Helga's Dowry, Helga is an orphan and doesn't have anyone to pay her dowry.  She expects to marry Lars but ...
When Lars agrees to marry Inge, because she has a larger dowry, Helga sits herself under a bridge. That is when she decides to do something about the dowry. So what does Helga do?  She sets out to do something about earning her own dowry. But it is also when someone else notices Helga. 

As you read or view the book, watch carefully to see who sees her under the bridge and who is watching her every time she goes down the hill to earn more of the dowry?  At the end of the story you will know who has been so interested in Helga and her work ethic — too bad for Lars.

Helga's Dowry, a Troll Love Story, by Tomie dePaola. Read by Jill, at Little Scandinavia, in Elkhorn, Nebraska.  https://youtu.be/L9F8CV42ZLE

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McElmeel, Sharron (2020, April 23). Spotlight on Literacy #12 - Observing Trolls.  Reading Trove.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/readingtrove-12