Horn Book Magazine STARRED
(November 1, 2003; 0-439-39545-3)
(Primary) What's to become of the original brazen Goldilocks? In Diane Stanley's winsome Goldie and the Three Bears (rev. 9/03), she is recast as a thoroughly modern miss, of strong likes and dislikes, who gets off the school bus at the wrong stop and walks into the bears' unoccupied cottage...where she soon finds, in baby bear, a new friend after her own warm heart. Here, on the other hand, she is a proper old-fashioned girl who simply forgets not to do what her mother tells her not to do -- like not going into the woods where a family of bears may live, not going into houses uninvited, not touching other people's food, etc., etc. The outcome? Routed by the returning bears as usual, Goldilocks runs home to her mother resolved "never, ever [to forget] not to do what her mother [tells] her not to do." Aylesworth turns the traditional, all-in-fun nursery tale into a coy lesson -- save for the pictures -- in doing as mother says. McClintock is ideally suited, of course, to illustrating the core of the story: her characterization of the Three Bears is on a par with the animal portrayals of Wallace Tripp, for one distinguished example, and her dramatic, humorous staging of familiar scenes gives new life to the Goldilocks/Three Bears face-off. Would that that were, indeed, the whole story. Copyright 2003 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
Booklist
(November 1, 2003; 0-439-39545-3)
Reviewed with Diane Stanley's Goldie and the Three Bears. PreS-Gr. 1. Is there room for two more versions of Goldilocks? Yes, if it's space for these two. Although as different from each other as peas and pies, both are delightful and will attract their own audience, with some children preferring the traditional story and others gravitating to the fresh and funny version. Although Aylesworth follows the standard telling, he adds decorative touches in the text. McClintock's art is also traditional. Executed in watercolor, sepia ink, and gouache, her pictures have a nodding acquaintance with Tenniel's artwork for Alice, but the Victorian sensibility is interrupted here and there with some humorous details, particularly the expressions on Goldilock's face. Stanley's Goldie is a modern-day kid. She has definite likes and dislikes about food, clothes, and even friends: Jenny is too boring; Alicia is too snobby. One day, Goldie gets off the school bus at the wrong stop and wanders into a strange house. Children may think they know the rest, but in the end, the little bear girl turns out to be just the friend Goldie has been looking for. Stanley's art, so sophisticated in her biographies, is delightfully childlike here, with lots of fun in every scene. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal
starred (October 1, 2003; 0-439-39545-3)
PreS-Gr 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 ful
