![]() Although she alternates between two-page spreads, single pages (some crossing the gutter), singular close-ups of bear grouped together, the flow is flawless. This chair is too ouchy shows bear trying to sit on the arm of a cactus. Hodgkinson's clever, masterful use of mixed media not only extends the storyline but tells a tale not told by the text. An opening page of leaves, in a variety of unusual colors (lime, pink, navy blue, turquoise) scattered around a tree stump, bear's empty boots on top, with three birds perched on them, surrounded by white space provides a peek into the color palette used throughout the book. Opening and closing endpapers, done in shades of blueprint blue, each different, show maps of the bear's trips to, and from, the city, marked by dotted lines from points A to B. Unfolding the matching jacket and cover offers astute observers a possible hint of the story's outcome the red line from the bear's boot moving left to the back, winding through the forest where we see a golden-haired girl eating a bowl of porridge. Humor, the appropriate exaggerations, placed at the perfect point to compliment the pace are the crowning touch. Comparisons, descriptive words and phrases, and the grouping of threes leave little doubt in readers' minds, they have entered into the world of fairy tales, albeit a much more modern one. The upbeat, you'll-never-guess-what-happened-next narrative penned by Leigh Hodgkinsonis a welcoming invitation into the bear's adventure. The tables are turned in a most delightful way. Who could have been drinking from the fishbowl? Who sat on the cat? And who, yes who, is sleeping in the little person's bed? Picture if you can when recognition dawns on two members in this group. As you can imagine when the daddy person, mommy person and little person return home the longed-for solitude is shattered. On the third try he finds the perfect spot, a bed fit for a lost bear, for drifting off into dreamland. Their chairs are prickly, screechy and not quite as comfy as a real bed. These people certainly have terrible taste in porridge. The peace and quiet are exactly what he needs as soon as he satisfies his hunger cravings. Seventeen-floors-up later he is glancing into someone's cozy penthouse. He's pretty shaky at this point so he strolls into the entrance of Snooty Towers only to be more confounded by the revolving door. He is smack dab in the middle of a noisy, busy city, standing on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building. In fact, this bear has gotten so far off course, he is no longer in the woods. The next minute, he didn't have a crumb-of-a-clue ![]() ![]() One minute, he was strolling in the woods, Do The Three Pigs start a construction company specializing in earthship homes? Does Little Red Riding Hood become an activist for the protection of wolves? Do Hansel and Gretel open a health food store? Or as in Goldilocks and Just One Bear ( Nosy Crow, an imprint of Candlewick Press, August 14, 2012) written and illustrated by Leigh Hodgkinson does what you least expect happen? Have you ever wondered, though, what happens after happily ever after.
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