Leola and the honeybears: An African-American retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

This well-written tale is entertaining and is very much like the original version (Goldie Locks and the Three Bears). The story has a quick beginning. On the first two pages, Leola is shown helping her grandmother with the laundry, and chasing milkweed seeds into the woods. Then all of a suddden, the action begins as she makes her way out of the dark and dangerous woods and heads towards the Honeybears' house. The setting removes the tale from the real world when Leola meets a talking weasel and three talking bears. The main character and the plot are simple and direct. In this tale, the action never slows down, and the events move quickly to a happy ending. The language used is lively and engaging. It keeps to the oral tradition by using a minimum of descriptive words, rich dialogue, and repetitious phrases. Some of the language used by the grandmother has a southern dialect to it (e.g., listen child, folks, mind me). The illustrations are vibrant and they add to the story. The illustrations also help extend the story. For instance, the first two illustrations show a wide-open grassy field, with a small cottage in the middle. This allows the reader to see that Leola and her grandmother live in the country. All the illustrations help depict the events in the story splendidly. After reading this book to my third graders, they made a comparison chart to compare this tale with the original tale. Then they made paper bag puppets to retell the story. This is a must have book. Readers are sure to fall in love with Leola and the beautiful illustrations. (amazon customer)