Book Review: Goldilcoks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Delightfully humorous take on familiar story

Cons: Only for the dinosaurs

The Bottom Line:

Inventive and fun

Will delight everyone

Listen for the laughs

Hilarious Fractured Fairy Tale

Everyone knows the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and how this trespasser and thief got caught in the end.  But what if she wandered into a different house?  That’s the idea behind Mo Willems’ inventive and fun Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.  Trust me, no matter what your age, you need to read this one.

In this inventive take on a familiar story, we meet three dinosaurs, a father, a mother, and a visiting dinosaur.  They create giant vats of chocolate pudding, make their beds, and then leave for that thing they have to do.  Who should then wander by but Goldilocks.  Will this have the same ending?

Obviously, this book is the most fun if you are already familiar with the classic fairy tale.  The jokes and bits of sarcasm start coming early and stay the entire way through the book.  That’s not to say that you won’t enjoy it if you aren’t familiar with Goldilocks other story, but you won’t get all the humor.

And this book is funny.  I laughed out loud reading this to myself a couple of times and chuckled many more.  Kids and parents will appreciate this story and how it is set up and told.

Speaking of which, in a break from Mo’s usual style, this book actually features narration.  In fact, I would say it is more narration than dialogue, a huge switch from his usual dialogue only picture books.  But it works much better here since so much of the humor comes from the narrator.  I’d also hesitate to call it an easy reader, but not all of his books have fallen into that category.

Likewise, the illustrations are more detailed than normal with backgrounds and everything.  Mo’s style is still present, and the illustrations greatly add to the enjoyment of the book.

The book ends with morals for Goldilocks and the dinosaurs.  They are some great laughs as well.

This is another delightful book from Mo Willems.  Honestly, I’d love to see him develop this into a series of fractured fairy tales.  No matter your age, you need to read Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.