Goldilocks Returns

by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Ever since she snooped around the house of the three bears, Goldilocks (now Goldi) has been feeling guilty. She wants to do something nice for the bears. What if she stops by one day, replaces the icky porridge with Rutabega Breakfast Bars and all her favorite foods, fixes Baby Bear's broken chair, and cleans the house until it gleams? Perfect! When the bears return home, they'll hardly recognize their home! They'll LOVE it!
(Or will they?)

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Humor, Fantasy

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Lisa Campbell Ernst was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1957. She received a Bachelor's degree in art from the University of Oklahoma, and then won an internship as a guest editor for Mademoiselle Magazine in New York City. She has written and illustrated over twenty picture books including Stella Louella's Runaway Book, which won the Children's Choice Award in Kansas, and Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldilocks has changed. Goldilocks feels terrible for what she did to the bears years ago so she opens up a shop. The purpose of her shop is to offer help to others so they can prevent trespassers on their property as Goldi still has nightmares about her experience. Hoping to put an end to her nightmares, Goldi decides to go out to the Bears house. Arriving at the cottage, Goldi realizes that nothing has changed over the years. When she knocks at the door, no one answers and it's like Deja Vo. The door is unlocked and the bears are gone again! With supplies from her shop, Goldi gets to work securing the cottage so that in the future, they'll be safe from potential "Goldilocks." This is a great idea but what will be bears think when they get home? Will they like all of Goldi’s ideas? Will she be done before they arrive? The ending is fun.

I thought this was a cute, funny story. Goldi was full of energy, she’s helpful and maybe over-the-top but she wanted the best for everyone. As I was reading, I laughed a few times, as you have to put yourself in the position of the bears and think, "can this really be happening again?" The illustrations are colorful, bring this story to life and they complement the text. An entertaining story, I think.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super funny take of the original story. In her old age she feels sorry for what she did when she was younger and goes to fix her mistake. The bears are older too and are not at all happy with the changes.

[Ch_beverlyatwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldilocks Returns was rocommended in the School Library Journal on May 1, 2000. It is a delightful sequel to The Three Bears where Goldilocks feels such remorse for her invasion of the home of the bears that she returns with her locksmith and hardware knowledge to make things right at the bears home. Children ages 4-8 will enjoy this remake of the classic. My favorite part was the fact that Goldilocks cleared out their supply of food that she thought was not healthy for them and left
Rutabaga breakfast bars instead! YUK!!

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know what wouldn't be funny? Making out that the three bears were traumatized victims of Goldilock's first trespass and then having her return years later to make amends only to trespass and upset the household again -- without consequence! -- and leaving her feeling like a righteous Karen heroine.

And yet that's the joke this book is making. Ugh.



FOR REFERENCE:

Rated “Indifferent" in our old book database by Rod and Adelia.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read other picture books by Lisa Campbell Ernst, I know it isn't unusual for her to riff off of a traditional story. Her specialty is to add her own brand of creativity, and also create illustrations with a very direct appeal to young readers.

In this tale, the author updates Goldilocks as a character, as well as totally reconfiguring the traditional tale. For example:

The next morning the three exhausted bears sat at the kitchen table, miserably staring at their Rutabaga Breakfast Bars and celery juice.

FIVE STARS for the intended audience.
Granted, this book leaves me cold.
But it takes all kinds to make a world of Goodreaders.

[AMY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goldi returns to the bears' house years later to make amends for her earlier criminal behavior. She's been making locks and keys and other home security products over the years and she puts new locks on the front door of the bears's house. The she replaces their porridge with healthier food, repairs baby bear's chair and falls asleep in baby bear's bed. Great version. Will spark lots of discussion about how to make things right after you make bad choices and forgiveness. Recommended for Grade 1-3.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how this book shows that other people notice what we do - that what we do forms our reputation. I love that it shows that when we do something that we know is wrong it can bother us until we set it right. This book perfectly opens up a discussion on how to set things right and how not to set things right. I love the unspoken point that this book brings up - that if we want to make amends to a person, the best thing to do would to be to ask them what they'd like us to do to make amends.

[Kaitlynn Beuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious and is a continuation of the original story we all know so well. It has a message about feeling remorse when she feels guilty and wants to fix everything; however, things don't go to plan. This happens in everyday life, and kids would learn from it and enjoy it.

[Kenson and kirra · Rating 5 out of 5]

goldilocks and the three bears is one of my favorite stories. i thought this verison was pretty funny.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great retelling of the original plus an added twist. Hilarious.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years later, Goldilocks returns to the 3 Bears' house to fix things. Only, the bears preferred things the way they were.

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you have bossy littles? This book would be so good to read with them!

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple funny lines, but it was just OK. I've enjoyed other variations and sequels of this tale more.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun perspective for revisiting the Goldilocks/Three Bears story. Sometimes trying to make this better doesn't make things better. Fun twist at the end.

[Jessica Calaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Reading age
4 - 8 years

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collections reads. Fractured fairy tale. An older Goldie did not age well in her intrusive behaviors. The idea is great for my fractured fairy tale units.

[Effie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairy Tales - compare and contrast, lesson of the story

just okay...

[Patricia Gower · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a good book for a fairytale unit. Goldilocks returns as Goldi and she is feeling very bad about what she did before. She makes them a nice breakfast, fixes baby bears chair and cleans the house. The bears come home to big excitement.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fun twist on the old Goldilocks's story. Goldilocks years later is still horrified by the pain she has caused the 3 bears back in the day.

So one day, to ease her guilt she goes back to the woods and makes it better. While the bears are out she redecorates the way SHE thinks it should be. The chairs are STILL, too soft, too hard, JUST right~ so she fixes it ..or so she thinks. The ending has a fun twist.

But, here is my issue and the issue of the bears as well, Goldilocks fixes the house to HER tastes and LIKES and sprays a scent SHE likes thinking that the bears MUST have the same tastes and likes she has.

She doesn't like their old chair so she fixes it, but all along, The too hard chair works for Papa Bear, the too Soft chair works for Mama Bear and the broken chair, works just fine for Baby Bear (yes still baby bear after 50 years).

Goldilocks is STILL selfish....and I think that is the moral of the story...it is still all about her...she was worried about her conscience and not the well being of the bears.

Yes, I am probably over analyzing this but, this is something that I hate about people in general...trying to fix things in others that aren't broken when they should fix what is wrong with themselves. It is still a good book and hence I gave it 3 stars (which to the rest of the world would be like a 4...I am tough reviewer!!)

[Anna Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goldilocks Returns is a story of what happens when Goldilocks, now known as Goldi, returns to the Three Bears’ house to make amends. When Goldi finds no one home, she lets herself in and “fixes” the things that she ruined in the original story. Once again, when the Bears return home, they are not pleased. I like the story idea and plot in Goldilocks Returns. I think it is a clever idea to write about Goldilocks returning to the Bears’ house and making things right. However, this book has too much text and the story plot tends to get lost in all of the words. I also think the subtle humor and vocabulary are too sophisticated for the age level that this book would appeal to. I could see this book appealing to younger children (ages 5-8), and the vocabulary and subtle humor are too difficult for that level. I could be wrong, and maybe older children would enjoy this book. I just feel that it could have been a great story to share with the younger students if it had been written using less text, easier vocabulary, and more obvious humor. My idea is to have students write their own stories about Goldilocks returning to the Bears’ house to make amends.

[MaryMargaret Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first reaction to this book was it was humorous but also had a good plot to it. It would be good to read to first or second graders because the language is a little more developed as well as sentence structure.
I liked it because it is like a sequel to Goldilocks and The Three Bears but 50 years later. She feels bad and guilty about ruining everything in the bears house so she wants to fix it. When she fixes it though, she makes it even more worse again because she changes everything that they are used to. She thinks she had done the right thing but the bears were not happy at the end. It's a good lesson to learn to take responsibility for your actions but also to not intrude on other peoples things.
It is good for a discussion about why she felt bad from the first story, why the bears didn't like the fixes she made and why she felt she needed to fix things so many years later.
It is a fun story for children to retell with a lot of dialogue that they can use and recognize later.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you read about Goldilocks and if you remember from reading the book when you were little, Goldilocks went to the bears house and invaded the house. In this book, Goldilocks has felt guilty about what she did when she was little. She goes and gets to prepare to fix everything that she had done to the bears house. Then Goldilocks goes out to the house, and it's almost like a repeat of when she went to the bear's house for the first time. Goldilocks starts to repair items around the house and the bears are gone. Goldilocks leaves in time and then the bears come back and it is now how they left the house and they don't like it. The bears figure out what happened and end up making some changes.
This would be a good book to talk about feelings and how they feel about if someone did something to them that they did not like. Then you could have them write about one time that they were hurt or someone did something to an item that end up runing the item.

[Michaela Zavala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very cute story about how Goldilocks comes back to fix her mistakes of messing up the Bear's house. It is a story which is about the guilt of a person weighing so heavily that Goldi must go fix her mistakes that she made many years ago. Unfortunately, when she goes back she seems to only make more of a mess of what she had perviously done. Although consideration of others feelings is something that is taught in the younger years in life, the topic of ongoing guilt is a heavy topic which may be too difficult for younger audiences to understand.
As for the illustrations, they are bright, vibrant and do a great job of telling the story of "Goldilocks Returns". The illustrations are right on point that early readers would be able to hypothesize about what is going to happen in the story next from the stories and probably have the correct guess. Not only that but the pictures are interesting and colorful, keeping a reader engaged.

[Brianna Mendenhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldilocks Returns

Ever since she snooped around the house of the three bears, Goldilocks (now Goldi) has been feeling guilty. She wants to do something nice for the bears. What if she stops by one day, replaces the icky porridge with Rutabega Breakfast Bars and all her favorite foods, fixes Baby Bear's broken chair, and cleans the house until it gleams? Perfect! When the bears return home, they'll hardly recognize their home! They'll LOVE it!
(Or will they?)

I absolutely gave this book a 5 star rating!

I cannot express enough how much I truly enjoy this book each time I read it. Ernst takes a traditional tale and shares an exciting and personalized spin on it with her audience. It'll have readers, young and old, giggling aloud throughout it. The illustrations are charming as can be, and she is witty with the situations she puts Goldilocks in. I absolutely love it!

[Kimberly Parrott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally, I loved this book. It gave a sweet into the future look at how Goldilocks and the Three Bears fared after the incident when Goldilocks was younger. She came back to the bears cottage years later to "set things right" but yet again she broke into their home and ruined all their things. While she was only trying to help, she did not realized that the bears liked the things like they were and did not need her to fix them. The bears find her again and are stunned by her ramblings and hugs and as she leaves they don't know what to think. I think this is a good twist on this popular fairy tale and the illustrations just bring it all to life. I found it very amusing and very kid friendly.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

She's baaaack. And she hasn't changed much, except for the fact that she wants to shed the guilt of all these years. She has become a master locksmith to help save others from snoops like herself. Her guilt builds to a point she can no longer bear, and she is off to find the home of the 3 bears again! She changes the locks, throws out the porridge and leaves ruttabagga food bars instead, she fixes the chairs and the beds because some are too soft and some are too hard. hmmm, sound familiar. This fractured fairy tale is appropriate for students grades K through 3.

[Alexandria Hiam · Rating 3 out of 5]

She's baaaack. And she hasn't changed much, except for the fact that she wants to shed the guilt of all these years. She has become a master locksmith to help save others from snoops like herself. Her guilt builds to a point she can no longer bear, and she is off to find the home of the 3 bears again! She changes the locks, throws out the porridge and leaves ruttabagga food bars instead, she fixes the chairs and the beds because some are too soft and some are too hard. hmmm, sound familiar. This fractured fairy tale is appropriate for students grades K through 3.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this! Playful, hilarious and fun - this should be added to your list of must-reads.

Ages: 5 - 9

Cleanliness: The words "egad!," "good gosh," "my gosh! Oh my heavens!" are used.

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it! Visit my website: The Book Radar.

[Brie Tennyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Goldilocks Returns" is a book about Goldilocks going back to the three bears' house to try to fix what she did to them in the past. She fixes up their house the way she would like it, and is trying to make amends for what she did to them so long ago. This book was interesting in the way the author brought back a character that children are usually familiar with and had her return years later. This book would be great for younger children (4-7 years).

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had huge hopes for this book as I love the fairy tale of Goldilocks. But I felt like in the end it still said that it was okay to break into someone house and change their house around. I felt like the story-line could have been completely different. Mason did not enjoy this book either and he was bored through the whole thing. The illustrations are neat in the book but that is about it. I don't recommend checking this book out.