“Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.”
Sound familiar?
What?
You mean you didn’t know that…
“One day—for no particular reason—they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then—for no particular reason—they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl.
Definitely not!”
Clearly, this is not a regurgitation of the original fairy tale featuring a curious golden-haired lass and a family of furry bears.
Rather, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs is the brainchild of uber-popular children’s book author Mo Willems.
Which explains a lot.
The award-winning writer adds an edgy and eclectic spin on the classic story of Goldilocks by making her the target of three flesh-eating lizards… one of which hails from Norway.
Warning: This is not the sweet little story you grew up with. Instead, the book is laced with sardonic lines that may fly right over your preschooler’s head.
In addition, the plot contains a number of tween-friendly tongue-in-cheek twists beginning with the revelation that Goldilocks is not made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Rather, Willems notes that his version of the bright-eyed damsel doesn’t listen to “anyone or anything.”
Hence, her being the perfect target for the Tyrannosaurus family whose main goal is to transform their uninvited guest into a “delicious chocolate-filled-little-girl-bonbon.”
Enter the pudding, which Willems bites into with silliness and a heaping dose of sarcasm:
“The first bowl of chocolate pudding was too hot, but Goldilocks ate it anyway because, hey, it’s chocolate pudding, right?
The second bowl of chocolate pudding was too cold, but who cares about temperature when you’ve got a big bowl of chocolate pudding?
Not her.
The third bowl of chocolate pudding was just right, but Goldilocks was on such a roll by now, she hardly noticed.”
If you are looking for a cleverly penned fractured fairy tale to share with your children at bedtime–or any time–Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs will not disappoint.
While the illustrations will appeal to kids of all ages, Willems’s style of writing may be better suited for a slightly more mature audience. And by slightly mature, I mean third and fourth graders.
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs is definitely a colorful book… in more ways than one.
You can see just how enlightening it really is by picking up your own copy via HarperCollins’ website or at discount retailers nationwide.
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