Goldilocs
Ella McCleod and Rochelle Falconer
Scholastic

Readers of this blog will know that I’m a fractured fairytales enthusiast and this one certainly fits the bill. It’s Goldilocs narrating her own story and as you’ll notice from the cover, her hair is black. Her name comes from other golden attributes – her style, her beads and her smile. She’s a resident of fairyland and being a girl, she has only three options: she can be a wicked witch, an evil power mad queen or a royal princess. The last Goldilocs considers the worst as a prince’s kiss is needed to break an evil curse. What to do?

First she concocts a spell to make her hair grow, with disastrous results. So Goldilocs resorts to cooking her Grandad’s cornmeal porridge. As she stirs the pot there comes a growly sound – time to hide from the three ursine characters that have appeared. However, no need to panic: they consume the porridge with relish.
Next Goldilocs tries being an evil queen and using all manner of bits and pieces she creates three thrones for royal sitters.

It’ s not royal sitters that try them but the three bears and they deem them just right.

Finally Goldilocs switches to princess mode but soon falls asleep. Back come the bears and terrified of being their next meal Goldilocs declares herself a total failure and tries to run away. To her surprise Baby Bear’s carefully considered words of encouragement make her feel empowered. Her decision? “ … the only rule is that I just be ME. As long as I’m kind and try my best, I don’t need to worry about the rest.” The most important thing to remember is that despite being an imperfect person, she has made three new and very supportive friends.

Told in rhyme with just the occasional glitch in the rhythm, this feminist version of the classic story with Rochelle Falconer’s vibrant, expressive illustrations makes for a tasty story time treat.