![]() In a starred review, School Library Journal notes, "This is pure Mo Willems, from the many visual gags in the cleanly drawn illustrations and the tight, tongue-in-cheek story line to the endpapers, decorated with dozens of hilarious crossed-out title possibilities." Many children's book are geared only towards children, and some have jokes aimed at the adults reading the story aloud. Though the jokes are over his head, I love that my 3-month-old son has only heard fractured fairy tales so far - none of the classics, all of the ridiculousness! I feel like it’s hard to mess up a fractured fairy tale because there’s so much freedom to make them silly, but Willems hit the nail on the head with this one. The illustrations looked like they could easily be animated into a cartoon - which is something I’d love to see! I really liked the wink-wink-nudge-nudge type of humor Willems employed in this book, and am curious to see if that’s his style in other books as well. I was smiling as soon as I opened Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs and saw the endpapers, and was thrilled that Willems kept the humor going through the whole story. Besides twisting the well-known fairy tale, Willems also turns it more into a fable by ending the story with morals (however questionable those may be…). Throughout the book, the dinosaurs seem a little devious, setting traps for the little girl, but they also seem like creatures children would want to be friends with. Willems uses a gentle dose of anthropomorphism to make his dinosaurs more relatable to the reader, especially those who are already familiar with Goldilocks’ mischief. Willems shows some humor in his drawing style as well, by adding homages to his other works in the background of some scenes. ![]() He adds a bit of shadow to the characters, which helps them pop off the page. ![]() He outlines the characters with what looks like a black crayon, though the other colors are smooth and vibrant. Though I say his illustrations are “simple,” that doesn’t mean they’re lacking, simply that no page is too crammed with artistic elements. He pulls the reader into the story with his simple, clean illustrations, and makes them comfortable by letting them in on the joke. Mo Willems lets his fantastic sense of humor shine in this twist on a favorite fairy tale. Will Goldilocks find out who lives in the house before they find her? It is then she realizes everything in this house is big. She tries each pudding, then searches for a place to sit. Goldilocks comes by the house and, true to her style, goes right in. They make it quite clear when they leave the house, but continually reassure everyone involved - readers included! - that they are not hiding in the woods, waiting for a trespasser. Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur, and no, not the Baby Dinosaur you might be expecting, but rather some other Dinosaur who happens to be visiting from Norway, decide to rig up their house so it is just so. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl.Definitely not!Supports the Common Core State Standards.Do you think you know all about the antics of Goldilocks? The three dinosaurs certainly think so. And then-for no particular reason-they decided to go. and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.One day-for no particular reason-they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. Annotation: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs is a new take on the fairy-tale classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears, so funny and so original-it could only come from the brilliant mind of Mo Willems.Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur.
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