Previously by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman

This clever picture book starts with Goldilocks arriving back home “all bothered and hot.”  Then the reader gets to discover what happened previously.  As you read backwards through her time with the three bears, she meets Jack.  The story then changes to Jack and the Beanstalk, done backwards by seeing what happened previously.  The book continues moving into the past and through many different fairy tales, including the Frog Prince, Gingerbread Boy, and Cinderella.  And finally moves back through time until all there is left is Previously.

This is a joy to share with children.  The book starts innocently with Goldilocks and then starts to travel quickly, a tape unrolling through history.  Children will enjoy the premise immensely as they see their favorite fairy tale characters, know what is coming much of the time and anticipate the joy of it.  I particularly enjoyed the ending where we move backwards through infancy and then through rain, wind and nature.  A lovely way to end a book that never really ends.

The text is rhythmic and the use of the word previously helps with that effect.  Ingman’s art is a nice mix of paint and ink which manages to effectively capture the rush of time without clutter or loss of illustrative integrity.  Nicely done.

Because the premise of previously is contagious, you may want to have drawing paper at the ready for children to express their own lives or days this way.  My two children went to bed and then awoke talking about what they had done previously.  But as you know, that was previously, and now they are back to normal.  At least for the moment.