GOLDIE AND THE THREE BEARS

Stanley reinvents another familiar tale, this one in a modern setting. Goldie’s finicky about her food, clothes, and friends, but when she finds something just right, she loves it “with all her heart.” One day she steps off the school bus at the wrong stop, and, looking for a place to call her mom, finds an invitingly empty house. Confident but not spoiled-looking beneath her great mane of curly hair, Goldie comes off as a child with a natural streak of curiosity. While waiting for the house’s residents to show up, she samples the sandwiches on the kitchen table, finds a chair in which to snuggle down with a favorite book, and then checks out the bedroom. A family of bears in dowdy-looking clothing appears—but when the furious baby bear tries to bounce Goldie out of bed, the two discover the pleasures of bed-bouncing, and instantly hit it off. “She’s just right!” Goldie happily proclaims to her mother on the later drive home. So is the tone of this imaginative update. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)