Papa Dinosaur has a scribbly mustache, Mama Dinosaur wears a blue wig, and Norwegian Dinosaur has a Norwegian flag stuck to all of his belongings. The illustrations only add to the exaggerated nature of the tale. Goldilocks eats all of the pudding even though the temperature isn’t quite right because who would turn down chocolate pudding? The look on her face upon devouring three giant bowls of pudding is priceless. This allows children and adults to be in on all of the jokes. The dinosaurs’ intentions are made clear in lines such as, “The three Dinosaurs went Someplace Else and were definitely not hiding in the woods waiting for an unsuspecting kid to come by,” and in details from the illustration such as signs in the forest that read “.2 miles to trap very nice house” and “getting closer.” Willems goes to great lengths to describe, tongue-in-cheek, what is most definitely not happening, like the sound of a dinosaur yelling “THE TRAP IS NOT YET SPRUNG!” which, really, was probably just a falling rock.

Children will note almost immediately that this version deviates wildly from the original as it is made clear that the dinosaur characters are not the innocent bears of the fairytale. The plot and setting remain familiar enough with three dinosaurs, three bowls of food, three chairs, three beds, a house, and a little girl in the woods, but this is where the similarities end. This snarky, humorous retelling of the classic fairytale offers a different take on the characters.

Goldilocks makes her way to their house and is in for some big surprises.

Mo Willems retells the classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but this time the bears are dinosaurs and they are not so innocent! Mama Dinosaur, Papa Dinosaur, and a dinosaur that is visiting from Norway make their beds, set out their chairs, cook “three bowls of delicious chocolate pudding at varying temperatures” and head out to Someplace Else. Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. New York: HarperCollins, 2012.

Mo willems goldilocks