Goldilocks And The Three Bears
PreSchool-Grade 2-The creators of The Gingerbread Man (1998) and Aunt Pitty Patty's Piggy (1999, both Scholastic) have produced another excellent rendition of a favorite folktale. Like their earlier titles, Goldilocks has a 19th-century look and feel throughout, yet keeps the tale accessible to today's children. Aylesworth's text is faithful to the traditional elements of the original, juicing up the plot with folksy, conversational asides. Goldilocks, not the bear family, is the focus of this retelling, and both author and illustrator imbue her with plenty of spunky charm. Children will identify readily with this protagonist, who is not so much willfully naughty as she is "very, very good, except that sometimes she forgot to do things that her mother told her to do. Yes she did." Indeed, the old-fashioned language, combined with McClintock's flouncy, hair-ribboned envisioning of the girl, evokes another intrepid literary adventurer: Alice in Wonderland. The artist's watercolor, sepia ink, and gouache illustrations are pastel and dainty yet full of life and action, thanks to the hilariously exaggerated expressions the child makes while testing porridge, chairs, and beds. This is a handsomely designed book, with heavy ivory pages, delicate frame borders, and an Edwardian typeface that changes in size to serve the story. A recipe for "Mama Bear's Porridge Cookies" will help children make the porridge-is-oatmeal connection. At once antique and immediate, this Goldilocks will sassily invite herself onto library shelves everywhere.Eve Ortega, Cypress Library, CACopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.