Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

Willems has delivered his very best work so far—this is a tasty treat for kids already fluent with the original, and for any fan of funny, and everybody will want to read it again and again and again.

Top-notch for group storytime, for a project on revising classics or just for enjoyment; funniest for kids who know the original.

Humorous details and in-jokes abound; the Pigeon even makes a couple of cameo appearances (hint: he finally gets his cookie). 

The meta elements fly fast and furious throughout this zany tale; humorous details and in-jokes abound. The characters' big, round eyes, hooded lids, and angled brows express a range of reactions.

In this sly sendup, Goldilocks (who could be a cousin of Knuffle Bunny's Trixie) ventures into the home of three diabolical dinosaurs. Having cooked up three bowls of chocolate pudding and arranged their house "just so," the two olive-green T. rexes and smaller brown dino lick their lips and make comments suggestive of a plot ("I sure hope no innocent little succulent child happens by our unlocked home"), while the mock-naive narration declares their innocence. They are "definitely not hiding in the woods," peeking fiendishly from the treetops, as "a poorly supervised little girl named Goldilocks came traipsing along." Goldilocks doesn't hesitate to enter the dinos' house or stick her whole head in their food ("who cares about temperature when you've got a big bowl of chocolate pudding? Not her"), and she wises up just in time to give herself, if not the dinosaurs, a happy ending. With a sense of irony (and humor) as sharp as this dinosaur trio's talons, Willems's retelling is a sure bet for audiences who have moved beyond more gently witty fare. Ages 3-7. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt. (Sept.)

This zany addition to the fractured-fairy-tale canon features a yellow-haired Goldilocks in a pink dress and three dinosaurs-Papa, Mama, and "some other Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway." Arising one morning, the dinosaurs cook their chocolate pudding "at varying temperatures" and intentionally leave the pudding bowls out to lure "a little succulent child" into their home. Goldilocks, being a heedless little girl who "never listened to warnings about the dangers of barging into strange, enormous houses," does just that and proceeds to stuff herself with the dinosaurs' bait-er, chocolate pudding. Tired and sleepy, she finds the bedroom but-uh, oh!-overhears the dinosaurs outside gloating, "Delicious chocolate-filled-little-girl-bonbons are yummier when they're asleep!" Suddenly realizing that she's in the wrong story, Goldilocks beats a hasty retreat just as the three dinosaurs return licking their lips-and happily finds her way into the right story with the three bears on the last page. This is pure Mo Willems, from the many visual gags in the cleanly drawn illustrations and the tight, tongue-in-cheek story line to the endpapers, decorated with dozens of hilarious crossed-out title possibilities. The book's generous trim size, varied illustrative perspectives, and dramatic text lend this title perfectly to a lively group read-aloud; pair it with a traditional version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to discuss differences and similarities. Readers of all ages will find much to chuckle about in this wacky retelling.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT