Yours Truly, Goldilocks

By Alma Flor Ada
Illustrated by Leslie Tryon

This book is comprised of a series of letters between Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother, the Three Little Pigs, Peter Rabbit, and two Big Bad Wolves. Though the entire story is told through these letters, it is very easy to understand the plot development. The three little pigs, after finally building their brick house, are planning to have a house warming party with all of their friends. Their excitement grows but somehow the wolves (Wolfy Lupus and Fer O'Cious) catch wind of this plan, and decide to make a plan of their own. Since this is a fairy tale, you can probably guess who wins, but I'll let you read the book to find out how it all unfolds.

I really enjoyed reading this book for a few reasons. First of all, combining well-known fairy tales always interests me because it offers new twists on the stories that everyone already knows. Using characters from common fairy tales gives us shared background knowledge that doesn't need to be explained in the book, yet the book itself stretches our imaginations and opens our minds to a whole new world of "what ifs." Additionally, I really enjoyed the letter format of this story. Using this book and its prequel (Dear Peter Rabbit) could very easily turn into a discussion about different points of view and how they affect stories. Or, if you want to take a different route, these books could be used to teach a lesson on how to write a letter in the correct form. No matter what direction you want to take with this book, it is always a lot of fun to read and enjoy.