Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Gerda Muller

I’m always on the look out for accessible versions of traditional tales.  Muller’s version of the three bears adds a delightful mix of tradition and the modern day.  The structure of the story remains the same, but Goldilocks is a girl who lives in a caravan and her family travels with the circus.  She’s a not a child who understands about knocking on doors!  And so she walks into the woods and discovers the home of the three bears.  From there, the traditional story picks up.  Yet this Goldilocks is innocent of any real wrong-doing and certainly doesn’t understand that she shouldn’t be there.  This innocence and naiveté works well in the book, taking her character from a naughty urchin to a young explorer. 

Muller’s illustrations are done in an understated color palette with dashes of vivacious reds.  The bears’ home is wonderfully traditional with a Dutch door, carved wooden chairs, and matching comforters on the beds in different colors but all with a bee motif.  No one will wonder why Goldilocks enters and stays.  It is all so very inviting and cozy.

This is a cheery and slightly modernized version of the traditional story that will be welcome in library collections or as a great bedtime pick.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Floris Books.