Gold (The Fairy-Tale Color Collection #2)

K-Gr 2--Alexander plays with the readers' expectations. At first, the book presents a charming, wordless story about a young girl who gets off the school bus and goes home, where she is alone. However, eagle-eyed readers may notice that the home belongs to a family of bears, currently out for a bike ride. Is the story a modern retelling of Goldilocks, set in an urban brownstone? Not quite. When the bears find the young girl sleeping, they wake her up and join her for dinner. The book's final pages show the family portraits: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, and the young girl. The final page presents discussion questions, e.g., asking if all members of a family always look the same. Alexander's linework is exquisite. The child has gray skin, which presents as brown in the monochrome world of the book. The only other color used is a rich golden yellow for her clothes, the home she goes into, and accent notes on every page. While the metaphor of a mixed family is cute, it raises more questions than it answers: Why does the family go out when the girl is expected home from school, leaving her to make dinner for everyone? Why do the bears' faces read as a mottled white, while hers is not white, and she is doing the work? VERDICT Purchase where the author's other updated fairy tale, Red, is popular.--Chance Lee Joyner

As in Red, Alexander offers a sophisticated wordless reimagining, this time of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Three bears in yellow scarves leave their yellow Victorian row house to go cycling. Later, a yellow-clad, Black-presenting child steps off a school bus of the same hue and walks through a b&w neighborhood to the bears' house. After the child lets themself in, the story unspools into scenes of enveloping coziness: the protagonist concocts a golden soup standing on a kitchen chair and naps on the large sofa, feet perched on the arm. As the bears arrive back home, page turns build to a closing image that reveals the truth behind the pops of yellow uniting the characters throughout: the child and bears are a blended family. Alexander's illustrations charm with their precisely rendered details--the soft shag of fur, the tilted noses alert to delicious smells, the crumbs and soup-spattered bowls that signal a meal deeply enjoyed--in this quiet retelling. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)