Goldilocks and the Three Bears

by Jan Brett, Jan Brett (Illustrator)

Overview

Everybody loves the story of the curious little girl named Goldilocks, who made herself quite at home in the house of the three bears. Jan Brett's faithful retelling brings new life to this all-time favorite nursery tale. A Horn Book Recommended Paperback for Folklore, 1990. A Booklist Children's Editors' Choice. Full color.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399220333
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/28/1992
Series:	Favorite Fairy Tales Series
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.37(d)
Lexile:	AD880L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real."

As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain," she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting."

Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books."

Editorial Reviews

PW found this ``beautifully executed retelling . . . distinguished by the use of luxuriant color and a wealth of visual detail.'' Ages 4-8. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Once upon a time deep in the forest there lived a family of three bears. A little girl wanders by their home and seeing no one home goes inside. Classic story, with beautiful watercolor illustrations of the three bears who discover that Goldilocks has been eating their porridge, sitting in their chairs and sleeping in their beds while they have been away. 1996 (orig.

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

PreS-Gr 2 Brett's retelling, adapted from Andrew Lang, is strong and smooth. These well-heeled Scandinavian-looking bears live in a house that would put yuppy collectors of country homes and folk art to shame, and the elaborate, imaginative, and richly colored designs bear repeated viewings. Every tuft of beary fur is clear, every item of clothing is ornamented, and every article of furniture is carved, patterned, or decorated. Bear motifs are repeated throughout, including carved bear beds, handmade bear porridge bowls, and a solid bear door. Brett's use of borders continues to expand upon the storyline. Here wide woody borders in the double-page spreads contain elements of the action occuring elsewhere. They alternate with simple narrow borders in the single-page illustrations. Personality emerges nicely. The ``little, small, wee'' bear bumbles into everything, and the great huge bear is alternately gentle and gruff, but the middle-sized bear attracts little direct attention. Goldilocks is somewhat less successful. At first, her face is finely drawn, but in later pages it's a bit flattened. Overall, some readers might wish for less decorations and some imaginative space, and may be overwhelmed by the amount of detail, but Brett's fans will be delighted. Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier

School Library Journal