Goldilocks--the Best Version

In my opinion, the best version of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is as retold by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by Barbara McClintock, 2001. It has the flavor of dramatic fireside storytelling. Goldilocks is a likable character in this version, because her motivations are explained sympathetically. Rather than coming across as the usual greedy, inconsiderate boor, Goldilocks is shown to be a curious little girl who at times just forgets her better self. For example, it is explained that she eats up Baby Bear’s porridge “without really meaning to.”

Aylesworth employs the old storytelling tool of repetition, describing how on this day Goldilocks keeps forgetting “not to do what her mother told her not to do.” She forgets “not to go into other people’s houses without being invited”, “not to touch other people’s food”, “not to use other people’s things without permission”, and “not to be nosy about other people’s private business.” She finally comes to herself at the instant the Bears wake her up, by remembering “not to talk to strangers”, and so she runs home.

Old-fashioned storytelling flavor comes from little, added words and phrases, like miniature commentaries, revealing the narrator’s presence and opinion of the events. Instead of merely reporting that the porridge smelled delicious, the narrator savors it, “And mmm, yes! That porridge smelled so delicious…” After Baby Bear’s chair crashes to the floor, the narrator offers, “Well, you might think that being dropped on the floor like that would have put a stop to her being so curious, but no, it didn’t, sadly no.” The narrator emphasizes the shock of Goldilocks’s misbehaviors by reinforcing with “Yes she did” or “No, indeed, she didn’t!” These informalities make the story seem like a juicy piece of gossip shared over the back fence. “And from all that I’ve heard, Goldilocks’s scary experience there in the woods that day did wonders to improve her young memory.”

Barbara McClintock’s illustrations show a great range of expressions on Goldilocks’s face as she proceeds on her adventure—glee, curiosity, disdain, gusto, and discomfort of several kinds. And as always, McClintock sets her pictures in the late nineteenth century period. I found two inside jokes. First, Goldilocks is holding a book in her room which just may be the Aylesworth-McClintock Gingerbread Man. Second, she loses a shoe while hastily descending the bears’ staircase.

The book ties in with three earlier Aylesworth-McClintock nursery tales by featuring a recipe for Mama Bear’s Porridge Cookies. The Gingerbread Man (1998), Aunt Pitty Patty's Piggy (1999), and The Tale of Tricky Fox (2001) each has its own recipe on the dust jacket.

This outstanding version of what is a very old story is a witness to the power of nursery and fairy tales to inspire writers and captivate readers even after many years and versions.