Goldilocks, Go Home!

Gr 3–5—What might have happened if Goldilocks had stayed with the three bears rather than running away in fright? Readers will find the tongue-in-cheek answer in Freeman's lighthearted romp through a forest that's home to many familiar fairy-tale characters. Here, Goldilocks is reimagined as a brassy tween who storms out of her suburban home after an argument with her mother, vowing to find the castle where her real parents—the king and queen—must surely live. Predictably, she gets lost and instead discovers the three bears' cottage. Upon their return home, Mama and Papa welcome Goldilocks warmly and tell her it won't be safe to travel through the forest until after the new moon. Baby Bear, who now prefers the name "Bobby," is resentful at the intruder-turned-houseguest, and the two are at odds over everything from sleeping arrangements to dinner plans. The more determined Goldilocks becomes to leave the bears' cottage and find the castle (and the king and queen she's sure must live there), the more Bobby, eager to be rid of his new housemate, eggs her on. When the two eventually sneak out of the cottage in search of the castle, Goldilocks and Bobby must work together to escape the dangers of the forest and return home. Irreverently told from Bobby's and Goldilocks's alternating viewpoints, the story moves quickly and will be particularly appreciated by fans of other fairy-tale reimaginings such as E.D. Baker's "Tales of the Frog Princess" and Sarah Mlynowski's "Whatever After" series.