Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs - Perfect Picture Book Friday

     No long introduction this week. For Perfect Picture Book Friday I often pick a book that I love that may not have gotten the attention I think it deserves. But when I saw that this book wasn't on the PPBF list yet, I had to add my review. I'm sure teachers will have heard of this one, but parents and grandparents may not and it would be a great gift book. Yes, November is here so start thinking about holiday shopping by making a book list!
     And for fellow writers, today is the first day of PiBoIdMo. Don't know what that is? Go here to meet the amazing Tara Lazar, author of The Monstore. The book I picked this week is a hands-on example of the idea-bending PiBoIdMo celebrates. When you get to my photo of the endpapers below, you'll see what I mean. 

     Run to get a copy of the book I selected this week. I mean run! Pick up the pace!

     Title: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

     Author/Illustrator: Mo Willems

     Publisher: HarperCollins Balzer + Bray, 2012
     FICTION

     Themes: Fractured fairy-tales, HUMOR

     Audience: 5-8 years 

     Opening:  ONCE UPON A TIME, there were three Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur, and some other dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.

     Synopsis: Mo Willems turns Goldilocks into a laugh out loud riot. Inserting dinosaurs for bears, he shines a spotlight on the absurdities of the classic tale while adding the twist that perhaps the bear/dinosaurs were acting intentionally, setting a trap for the unwary and unsupervised Goldilocks. Delicious chocolate-filled-little-girl bonbons, anyone?

     What I liked about this Book: Everything! I couldn't say it better than The Boston Globe which said that Mo Willems books "are simple, not simplistic." If you haven't read all of Mr. Willems' books, find one of his Pigeon books, then grab this one (I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of his "This Is Not A Good Idea") There are scads of jokes in the illustrations for an adult to enjoy as they read and re-read this book. Norway is "the Gateway to Sweden," a smiling dinosaur in a hard hat proclaims "We Are Natural Gas." For the littlest kids, look for THE pigeon hiding around the dinosaurs' house. Bigger kids can enjoy the punny word-play and slapstick humor of the plot. The book is 40 pages long, but it reads quickly and the simple bold cartoon-like illustrations make this a perfect read-aloud storytime choice.

     Activities and Resources: The book is silly, but the story extensions are not! HarperCollins has a 4-page activity guide with great ideas. Miss Lee shares the book as a read-aloud on Youtube which I embedded below. And to get an idea of Mo Willems energy and the enthusiasm he has for his books, click on the video to the left in which he presents Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.
The activity guides at The Teaching Books site are the same as those I give the link for above, but there are a list of Mo Willems interviews for the fans who want to learn more about the author.

I'll leave you with a look at the endpapers for the book, and you'll see what Mr. Willems is talking about.

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know, have you read this book already? When a book is popular at my library, sometimes I'm the last one to read it! (The book budget is only so big and I can't bring myself to put holds on the childrens books, the kids should be the ones reading them after all!)



This review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday) where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. Along with tons of writing wisdom, she keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.