Troll Target Books in Order

Troll Target is the name of a paperback line from Troll Communications that aims serious topics at middle grade readers in a way they can actually finish. The books are slim, direct, and built to be read in classrooms or youth programs as well as at home.

The volume tied to Dave Barry here is Together: How We Belong, co written with Geoffrey C. Ward and Miriam Rinn. Instead of jokes about exploding toilets or bad drivers, this book talks about what it feels like to be part of a group, what it feels like to be left out, and how communities decide who gets welcomed.

The authors use short chapters, real world examples, and plain language to cover ideas like friendship, prejudice, family, and identity. The goal is not to lecture so much as to give kids stories and questions they can recognize from their own lives. Sidebars and quotations break up the text, so even reluctant readers are not staring at a solid wall of print.

Barry’s presence is felt less in punch lines than in tone. The writing stays conversational and avoids the kind of stiff, “for your own good” voice that often kills interest in nonfiction for younger readers. There is room for lightness and even a little absurdity, which makes it easier to face harder subjects.

As a series, the Troll Target books are meant to be practical tools. They lend themselves to class discussions, small group reading, or one on one conversations between adults and kids who are trying to name what they are experiencing at school or in their neighborhoods.

If you come to this line because you enjoy Barry’s humor, expect something a bit different but complementary. Together: How We Belong still carries his instinct for spotting everyday weirdness, but it puts that skill to work helping readers think about where they fit and how they treat the people around them.

Used alongside Barry’s funnier essay collections, Troll Target titles can give young readers both the relief of laughter and the vocabulary to talk about the less funny parts of growing up.