Traditional Literature: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Title: Goldilocks and the Three Bears 

Author and Illustrator:  Janet Stevens

Genre: Traditional Literature (Fairy Tale)

Major Awards: N/A

Age Group: 3-6 years old

The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, by Janet Stevens is about the bears Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. Papa Bear would eat, sit, and sleep using big-sized things. Mama Bear would eat, sit, and sleep using middle-sized things and Baby Bear would eat, sit, and sleep using baby-sized things. One day they were going to eat their porridge for breakfast, but the porridge was way too hot for them to eat. Therefore, papa, mama, and baby bear decided they were going to go for a walk. While on the walk a young girl named Goldilocks came upon the house; when she smelled the porridge and saw that no one was there she went inside of the house to have some. She ate the porridge, she sat in the chairs, she even fell asleep in the bed. When the three bears came home they were not at all happy. In the end, Goldilocks was so scared she promised to never wander into the woods alone again. 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a classic story that would make a wonderful edition to any PreK-1st grade library. The story could be read as a class, used as an option in the drama center that the  students can act out, and can be used as another character development lesson about being respectful of other peoples things. Likewise, the story can also be turned into a lesson and activity about opposites because the vocabulary in the books uses words such as hot and cold, and hard and soft. As well as a lesson about sizing and learning the difference between and being able to recognize small, medium, and large.