Twisting the Tale (Goldilocks and the Three Bears)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Date:	13/01/09 (202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good illustrations

Disadvantages: The best parts of the text are missing and the textured inserts are poor

I'm sure that there can't be many people who haven't heard or don't know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It's a classic - or so I thought!

Published by the ever-reputable Ladybird, the Touch and Feel version of Goldilocks is anything but true to the classic. The book is aimed at the under 3s and is in the ever-popular board-book style. The added excitement is the inclusion of some textured inserts which are designed to stimulate the senses (touch being more developed in young children than many others). Whilst there are many excellent touch and feel books out there (the "That's not my..." series being particularly good in this regard) this is not one of them. But first to the story.

The story has been simplified to suit younger children. Whilst I see the point of this I feel that there are certain fairy tales which just don't merit (or work in) a shortened form. Where the traditional telling of Goldilocks attributes the three bear's property to each of the bears this book doesn't and, as a result falls rather flat. Rather than Daddy Bear's porridge being too hot, we just have one bowl which is too hot, one too cold and one just right. Similarly, there is no telling whose chair is whose nor, were it not for the illustration, whose bed is whose. The breaking chair is included but only through the illustration. The greatest shame though, is that there is no climax. Rather than each of the bears having been wronged with baby bear having been wronged the most we are left with three simple statements: Someone has been eating Daddy Bear's porridge, someone has sat in Mummy Bear's chair and someone has slept in Baby Bear's bed. Then Goldilocks runs out of the door and the bears never see her again. It's all rather abrupt and anti-climatic.

For me, part of the joy of the traditional fairy tale is the sing-song repetitive nature of the tales. Children love repetition. They like to know what is coming next. Importantly, they love to understand belonging. In my opinion it's important to attribute the bowls of porridge, the chairs and the beds to their owners. It's important to repeat the phrases. This version of the tale just doesn't do that.

Aside from the issue with the story this book also falls rather flat in terms of the touch and feel element. Usually touch and feel books have a wide variety of things for the child to feel but this version is rather lame. We have a piece of cotton fabric pulled taught, some (good) fur fabric for porridge, a tiny piece of textured card for a chair seat, an even smaller bit of cotton broderie Anglaise on top of the bed and then a shiny (immoveable) door made out of the same board as the rest of the book but set in slightly. This is the only touch and feel book that hasn't had my son eager to get to the next piece of touchy feely stuff. One feels that so much could have been made of the touch elements - after all we have chairs that are too soft or hard and beds that are rough and soft... but no.

If there's one redeeming feature it is the illustrations. These have been done in cartoon-style but have enough about them to make them appeal to children and adults alike. The character expressions are very good and there is enough fodder to pad out the scant story. As mentioned, were it not for the illustrations much of the story would go untold. There's a simplicity about the pictures which makes them easy for children to understand and enjoy. The colours are bright and bold.

In terms of teaching there is an additional line of text across the bottom of each spread effectively getting you to count one, two, three items. This might be a clue to uninspired parents but, had the tale been told in its original form, this would have been totally unnecessary!

For both my son and I this is a disappointing book.

I guess the moral of this story is that you really need to check out the text of these traditional tales before you buy.

This version of the book is currently priced at a shade under £5 from Amazon - if you find it for a few pence somewhere then the illustrations are worth it. I wouldn't buy it new though!

ISBN: 1844229602

Summary: Some fairy tales are best left alone - children aren't stupid!