Helga's Dowry Book Review

Helga's Dowry: A Troll Love Story
By Tomie dePaola
Republished December 3, 2019 (Originally published in 1977)

Mom's Review
I had high expectations for a Tomie dePaola book. They were exceeded.

Helga's Dowry, from the '70's, is now republished, and firmly among our favorite dePaola books. Helga is the prettiest but poorest troll. When Handsome Lars wishes to marry her, her lack of dowry poses an almost insurmountable hurdle, so he decides to marry the richest troll instead, Plain Inge. Helga asks Lars to wait for her while she earns herself a dowry. Helga succeeds, but Lars doesn't wait; he is on the brink of marrying Inge when he sees that Helga is now richer and returns his affections to her. Helga is not fooled and rejects him with the memorable words, "I want to be loved for who I am, not for what I've got!"

Helga's Dowry is a delightful lesson in problem solving, self-reliance, and self-worth. Helga sets an excellent example in tackling obstacles. Although she briefly wallows under a bridge (which 3 goats happen to pass over – who might those be, I wonder?), she asks herself, "Why should I sit here and pout? I'm...clever." And so she sets out to earn  gold, cows, and a pasture; she does so through hard work. Creative problem solving, a bit of outright feminism,* and the final rejection of Hans make for a character whom readers can love and strive to be like.  Furthermore, we see a little character watching all proceedings from the edges – turns out to be the troll king who admires Helga and falls in love with her.

Oh, and lest we forget, it's Tomie dePaola, so of course the art cannot be beat.

*When a rich man questions her ability to perform work because she is a woman, she completely dismisses him.

Son's Review
(Age: 4)

So there's a troll king, and he's always looking at Helga thinking he's gonna marry her, and at the end he marries her. The End.

It makes me happy. Tomie dePaola writes good stories. She kinda looks like Strega Nona.

I love that she earns herself a dowry. She does journeys to earn herself a dowry, and then she marries the troll king who loves her so much.

I like her humming. I like where you get to see how Helga turned herself into a rock.

I also like the part where they [Inge and Helga] battle, and it keeps going on and on.

Why we chose this book:
For Helga's creative problem solving, and because we are Tomie dePaola fans. A review copy was provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review.

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