The Gold Miner's Daughter: A Melodramatic Fairy Tale
Kindergarten-Grade 3-The cover and endpapers set the stage for a theater production, and rebuslike icons appear throughout to indicate places for audience participation. The story starts off with a scenario reminiscent of the old camp routine: I can't pay the rent! You must pay the rent! As the heroine searches for gold to pay the mustache-twirling villain, she comes across Goldilocks, the Three Little Pigs, the former owner of the Golden Goose, Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel, Rapunzel, and Rumplestiltskin's sister. When she is still unable to pay him, Mr. Bigglebottom claims her hand in marriage, but Gracie Pearl digs her heels in-¦literally. This results in an oil gusher that carries the villain far away and enables the heroine and her father to live happily ever after. Goodell's delightful and action-packed illustrations feature expressive characters and plenty of visual humor. Large collections and those in which fractured fairy tales are popular will want to consider this performance.-Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, ORCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.