The Three Bears

Nursery Classics #3

by Robert Southey, Norman Messenger (Illustrator)

New The Limited Editions Club. Very Good+. 1949. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Jean Hersholt, the General Editor of The Evergreen Tales, and famous actor. Limited edition of 2500 copies of which this is number 1272.

26 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1837

About the author

Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate. Although his fame tends to be eclipsed by that of his contemporaries and friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey's verse enjoys enduring popularity. Moreover, he was a prolific letter writer, literary scholar, historian and biographer. His biographies include the life and works of John Bunyan, John Wesley, William Cowper, Oliver Cromwell and Horatio Nelson. The latter has rarely been out of print since its publication in 1813 and was adapted for the screen in the 1926 British film, Nelson.

Southey was also a renowned Portuguese and Spanish scholar, translating a number of works of those two countries into English and writing both a History of Brazil (part of his planned History of Portugal which was never completed) and a History of the Peninsular War. Perhaps his most enduring contribution to literary history is the immortal children's classic, The Story of the Three Bears, the original Goldilocks story.

Reviews

[Fahima · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an adaption of the classic Goldilocks and the three bears. It follows from the traditional settings of Goldilocks entering the house and finding comfort in the small bears porridge, chair and bed. She goes through each character, trying out each character in turn. Firstly huge bear, middle bear and small bear. The book has detailed illustrations and shows the journey of the character of Goldilocks and depicts her character as an explorer as she rummages through the bears house.

This book would be ideal for quiet reading from the book shelf as it is a classic book, which children are aware of and are likely to have read before. Therefore having this in the classroom to go through illustrations and to just read again during wet play or independent story time may be ideal.

[799tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An adaptation of the classic fairytale. The story of Goldilocks, a little girl who goes into the three bears' home. She eats their porridge, sits in their chairs, and falls asleep in one of the beds. The bears find her sleeping and Goldilocks is startled from her sleep. She runs away from the house. Instructional use: read aloud, retell, extension of fairy tale unit, writing prompt with illustrations, have students write their own fairy tale, have students write a different beginning, middle, or end to the story to make it their own, and/or identify characters, setting, and key events.