Fiction - Animals, Children - Fiction & Literature, Children - Fairy Tales, Myths & Fables

Goldie and the Three Bears

Name: Goldie and the Three Bears
Author: Diane Stanley
ISBN: 9780061136115

by Diane Stanley

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Overview

In this spirited new version of a classic fairy tale, we meet a determined heroine with a mind of her own. Can she help it if everyone she invites over is too bossy or too boring or too snobby or too rough? What Goldie desperately wants is a friend she can love with all her heart. And one day, she finds one who's just right.

In this story, loosely based on that of Goldilocks, Goldie, who has yet to find a friend to "love with all her heart," makes an unplanned visit to the house of some bears.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

"In Stanley's witty retelling, she characterizes Goldilocks as a wide-eyed, golden-haired heroine who knows exactly what she likes," wrote PW. Ages 5-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Diane Stanley

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of many award-winning books for young readers. Her novels include the critically acclaimed Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice, The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy, The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine, and A Time Apart. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for the body of her work.

Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively imagined fairy tales:The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Saughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews

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Editorials

ALA Booklist

“Fresh and funny…Stanley’s art, so sophisticated in her biographies, is delightfully childlike here, with lots of fun in every scene.”

Horn Book Magazine

“Reads like Charlotte Zolotow or Arnold Lobel of yore.”

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

Here is a new Goldie who knows exactly what she likes and what she doesn't in life, which makes some things difficult for her. But when she loves something, it is "with all her heart." Her parents worry because she is happy without friends to play with. But Goldie only wants someone she can love "with all her heart." One day she gets off the bus at the wrong stop and arrives at a house where she has a rather familiar set of experiences finding a sandwich, a chair, and a bed that is "just right." The arrival of three bears, however, makes for a very different, happy ending. For Baby Bear turns out to be the friend Goldie is seeking who is "just right." Goldie is an appealing, curly-headed heroine painted in detailed settings appropriate to the story. Sequential vignettes of action are mixed with larger scenes of her sometimes humorous adventures. The teddy bears on the end papers, obviously something she loves, are like the one that accompanies her everywhere and is perhaps symbolic of the friend Goldie finds at last. 2003, HarperCollins Publishers, Ages 5 to 8.
— Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-One of Goldilocks's qualities-her desire to have things "just right"-is extended into a charming story. "It was hard work finding the perfect hat, a really comfortable sweater, or shoes that didn't pinch her toes. But it was worth the effort, because when Goldie loved something, she loved it with all her heart." What's missing in her life is just the right friend. One day, she gets off the bus at the wrong stop and wanders into a little brick house at the end of a winding path. What she finds there will bring a smile to every child who is looking for a friend who's "not too bossy," "Not too boring," and "Not too snobby or silly or rough." The writing is smooth, concise, and rhythmic. The author's voice peeks through now and then, adding an understated humor that kids will love. "When she had finished the book, Goldie peeked into the next room. It will not surprise you to learn that she found three beds in there." And the pictures are marvelous, with fine lines; soft, glowing colors; and winsome, telling details. Many contemporary retellings of familiar fairy tales are successful in a clever way, but this goes beyond clever to also have real substance. A 24-carat selection for many children, especially those who like things just so.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Stanley reinvents another familiar tale, this one in a modern setting. Goldie's finicky about her food, clothes, and friends, but when she finds something just right, she loves it "with all her heart." One day she steps off the school bus at the wrong stop, and, looking for a place to call her mom, finds an invitingly empty house. Confident but not spoiled-looking beneath her great mane of curly hair, Goldie comes off as a child with a natural streak of curiosity. While waiting for the house's residents to show up, she samples the sandwiches on the kitchen table, finds a chair in which to snuggle down with a favorite book, and then checks out the bedroom. A family of bears in dowdy-looking clothing appears-but when the furious baby bear tries to bounce Goldie out of bed, the two discover the pleasures of bed-bouncing, and instantly hit it off. "She's just right!" Goldie happily proclaims to her mother on the later drive home. So is the tone of this imaginative update. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)