Amazon.com Review
As if the itching and fever of chicken pox isn't bad enough, poor little Goldie Locks can't visit with her friends Red Riding Hood and Bo Peep, and her younger brother is positively ruthless in his teasing. What's a fairy tale gal to do? Wait for Bro's karmic comeuppance, that's what. And if the law of traveling germs holds true, the uppance will come quickly.
Erin Dealey's rhyming lark plays havoc with favorite storybook characters, from Henny Penny to Jack (Goldie's brother calls out the window: "Jack, be nimble! Jack, be quick! / Come and see! My sister's sick!"). Illustrator Hanako Wakiyama's Goldie Locks, with her big, spotted face and tiny blonde braids, is the picture of wretchedness, while her naughty tow-headed sibling is fiendish in his bursting good health (for now, anyway). The distinctive artwork in retro reds and oranges is chock-full of witty details and child-friendly perspectives. Young readers who have suffered at the hands of bratty brothers and sisters will identify immediately with Goldie's frustration and cheer when Little Brother finally gets his just and speckled deserts. (Ages 4 to 7) --Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
In Dealey's debut, Goldilocks is a mid-century-modern girl, with her beige-blonde hair in pinch-tight braids and red barrettes. She mopes in bed or in her living-room Egg chair, sipping a cold drink and glumly surveying the pink "polka dots" on her rosy skin. Nursery characters like Little Red regret that Goldilocks can't "come to Gram's" with her, while others tell her not to scratch the spots: "`Leave them be,' agreed Bo Peep,/ Who happened by in search of sheep./ `That's sound advice for chicken pox./ It doesn't work for wayward flocks.' " Dealey's stilted rhymes hark back to the early years of the baby boom and "Dick and Jane" readers; Goldie endures the taunts of an unsympathetic little brother, while Father (dressed in a smoking jacket or dude-ranch shirt) maintains discipline. Wakiyama (Too Big!) likewise mimics 1950s picture books in her oversaturated color illustrations, printed on cream-yellow, faux-aged pages. Her work suggests the era of color separations, with fragile paper and opaque orange and turquoise inks. This fond look at old-fashioned fairy tales and family-sitcom dynamics injects wry touches (when Little Red comes by, a wolf peers in the window) that let readers in on the joke. Ages 3-6.
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