Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs (review)

Three dinosaurs (Papa, Mama, and "some other Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway") leave out three tempting bowls of chocolate pudding while they go "Someplace Else" (they "were definitely not hiding in the woods waiting for some unsuspecting kid to come by"). Along comes Goldilocks (a dead ringer for Trixie from the Knuffle Bunny books), who promptly enters the Dinosaurs' house and gobbles up all the pudding, even that which is too hot and too cold "because, hey, it's chocolate pudding, right?" She is just checking out the beds when she happens to overhear the Dinosaurs gloating outside the window: "DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE-FILLED-LITTLE GIRL-BONBONS ARE YUMMIER WHEN THEY'RE RESTED!" No dummy, Goldilocks skedaddles out the back door leaving the Dinosaurs sadly disappointed. A helpful moral instructs that "if you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave," while the Dinosaurs' moral is "Lock the back door!" Master of absurdity Willems knows just how to turn a classic on its ear, and he does so here with considerable wit. The narrator's straight-faced insistence that the Dinosaurs are on the up and up—when they are clearly not—will be a hit with kids who have recently discovered irony, and the numerous humorous illustrative details will also provoke plenty of giggles. The Pigeon's appearance in a few places and the endpapers in which a plethora of alternate titles are considered and crossed out will also inspire careful and repeated viewing. Adults determined to get more educational mileage out of this might pair it with Trivizas' The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (BCCB 9/93) for a fractured fairytale fest or use it to inspire kids to write their own folktale parodies.