The Three Bears (Sort Of) is a revision of that classic family favourite, Goldilocks and The Three Bears. In Yvonne Morrison’s rewrite, a woman reads the story to a child who isn’t prepared to accept it at face value. Instead, he questions each major aspect of the tale. First, he wants to establish what sort of bears they were (Grizzly bears? Sun bears?) and why they live in a cottage instead of a cave. Later he queries how three bowls of porridge poured at exactly the same time can be too hot, too cold and just right, and why a chair designed for a baby bear of approximately 60 kilograms breaks under the weight of a 30 kilo girl. All good points!
I’m liking
The Three Bears (Sort of) is an amusing retake of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. My daughter really loves this book and requests it over and over. In fact, she had a small tantrum when I needed to take it to write this review. Yvonne Morrison’s text is very realistic; the reader has no trouble believing this could be a real conversation between an inquisitive child and his or her slightly exasperated parent.
This book is brilliantly illustrated by Donovan Bixley. The illustrations fit well with the text and add to the humour of the story. They include rich, bright imagines of the sort you would expect to find in a fairy tale book and funny pseudo-scientific black and white diagrams. The hands of the mother and son also appear throughout the book, drawing and adding pictures to illustrate the story, and their voices are clearly distinguished from each other so there is no confusion about who is speaking.
Donovan’s bears are gorgeous and his Goldilocks is both traditional (in her old-fashioned green dress and apron) and zany (with her wild out of control hair). As with other Bixley books, the illustrations include little extra details that add to the humour. Favourites of mine are the calendar on the wall of the bear’s cottage marking the date for “hibernashun” and the honey bee mobile above baby bear’s bed.
Things that made me go hmmmm
After repeated reads, I found myself becoming a bit tired of the child’s incessant questioning. I have even resorted to skipping over the child’s questions and reading the story in its pure form on occasion (something I can sometimes get away with because my daughter is only two years old). If you have a particularly inquisitive child of your own, and are subject to lots of this sort of inquiry any way, this book could potentially lose its appeal after a while.
The conclusion
The Three Bears (Sort of) has a fun concept and kids of various ages will enjoy it in different ways. Younger children will be attracted to the fabulously expressive bears, while older kids will get a kick out of the interplay between the parent and child. Who knows, this book might even encourage your child to engage in more critical analysis, a pretty important life skill!
The Three Bears (Sort of) is published by Scholastic and retails for around $18.00.
