Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Lost in the woods, a tired and hungry little girl finds the house of the three bears where she helps herself to food and goes to sleep

PreSchool-Grade 2 This new edition of an old fa vorite is at least the third ``Goldilocks'' this season, and the retelling suffers by comparison with Jan Brett's version (Dodd, 1987). This Goldilocks talks to her self, and Eisen asks readers questions about the action such as, ``And what do you think happened then?'' He also uses exclamation points freely as a substitute for the drama of the story itself. The char acters are Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear instead of the more familiar and satisfying Great Big, Middle-Sized, and Little Wee. Further, the text is con densed, excluding all introductory materi al about beds, bowls, and chairs, and the story opens with the bears going for a walk while the porridge cools. Ferris' il lustrations are more successful. The intri cate and elegant watercolors are framed in lovely borders containing some of the sto ry motifs. Color is rich and Ferris has used light well, highlighting interior scenes with sun and shadows. Full-page art is on one side, with text and smaller pictures on the facing pages; these small insets are some times too small to see clearly. Goldilocks carries a look-alike doll, and observant children may wonder why she takes only baby bear's teddy bear upstairs but ends up with her doll in bed. For high energy and vigorous prose, stick to Galdone's version (Clarion, 1985) or Brett's. Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Educa tion, Montpelier
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.