Beach Lane Books / Ages 4-8
Goatilocks and the Three Bears
Goatilocks gobbles more than porridge in this fractured fairy tale that puts a hilarious twist on a favorite story.
She lives down the road from a family of bears...
Goatilocks can’t resist sampling first Papa Bear’s porridge, then Mama Bear’s porridge, then Baby Bear’s porridge—and his bowl and spoon, too. And it turns out Goatilocks has a taste for chairs and beds as well. Has Goatilocks devoured her way to disaster? What will happen when the Bear family returns home?
This playful adaptation of a favorite fairy tale is full of tummy-rumbling fun.
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Once upon a time, there was a kid named Goatilocks ...
Reviews of Goatilocks
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
In this amusing retelling of the traditional story, our protagonist is not a little girl but a long-lashed, floppy-eared goat with a penchant for trespassing. After try-ing out the bears’ porridge, chairs, and beds, Goatilocks not only settles on Baby Bear’s offerings but eats them in their entirety—porridge, spoon, chair, cushions, bed, bedding, and all. In the familiar scene of the bears’ discovery, the bears return home and the parents note that someone has been messing with their stuff as in the traditional version, while Baby Bear questions “Hey, where’s my porridge?” and “Hey, where’s my chair?” Pleasingly, the story does not end just with Goatilocks’ rapid departure but instead with a moment of redemption wherein she brings the bears a huge bouquet of wildflowers—which they eat. Perl has perfectly nailed the humor, with a light tone and selective word choice that carry the story’s jokes. Howard’s cartoonish watercolor illustrations incorporate a pastel palette of splashy pink, purple, and aqua, and their thick wiggly lines and comic perspectives are joyously bumptious. There’s plenty of storytime appeal here, and young listeners are certain to get a kick out of Goatilocks’ appetite for fun. -HM