Alma Flor Ada

Yours Truly, Goldilocks
Atentamente, Ricitos de Oro

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In this sequel to Dear Peter Rab­bit and Querido Pedrín we return to Hid­den For­est with another delight­ful series of let­ters between some of the best-loved char­ac­ters of children’s books, includ­ing Goldilocks, the Three Bears, Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood, the Three Lit­tle Pigs and their pur­suers Fer O’Cious and Wolfy Lupus.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Leslie Tryon out­did her­self with the illus­tra­tions of these books. The endear­ing por­traits she had cre­ated in Dear Peter Rab­bit are here sur­rounded by minute details which make me want to look at the illus­tra­tions over and over again. “Hid­den For­est” became a real­ity in this book. What fun to know we have two more books of this series in the making!

You can read Leslie’s reflec­tions about the cre­ation of the Hid­den For­est series in the chap­ter she wrote for Alma Flor Ada and You, vol­ume II pub­lished by Libraries Unlim­ited in the series The Author and You.

REVIEWS

Pub­lish­ers Weekly

In this sly pic­ture book, Ada and Tryon make a return visit to the sto­ry­book back­drop of their Dear Peter Rab­bit. While the sequel suc­ceeds as a stand-alone, it offers dou­ble the fun in tan­dem with its pre­de­ces­sor. The exchange of let­ters among famil­iar char­ac­ters: Goldilocks, the Three Lit­tle Pigs, Peter Rab­bit, Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood, Baby Bear and, of course, the Big Bad Wolf (aka Fer O’Cious) con­tin­ues as the pigs invite their pals to their new, wolf-proof home for a house­warm­ing party. The wolf, how­ever, has been spy­ing on the pigs, and he hatches a plan of his own, sug­gest­ing that his cousin join him in an ambush. But the wolves haven’t counted on Baby Bear’s mother and her swift reflexes. The mix­ing and match­ing of nurs­ery favorites pro­vides a lively frame­work for the epis­to­lary con­ceit and allows even the youngest read­ers access to the inside track. Amus­ing details, mean­while, hook older read­ers (Goldilocks, for instance, is imag­ined as Mr. McGregor’s daugh­ter, and resides on Veg­gie Lane). Tryon enriches her del­i­cate pen-and-ink and water­color illus­tra­tions with an abun­dance of deli­cious visual tid­bits, as in the cover art, which shows the wolf on a stake­out, peer­ing through a tele­scope at his prey. The end­ing hints of more adven­tures to come. A good news indeed. Ages 4–8.

School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3 — Like Dear Peter Rab­bit (Atheneum, 1994), this charm­ing book tells its story through an exchange of let­ters. Here Ada chron­i­cles the attempt of the three lit­tle pigs to plan a house­warm­ing party. Mean­while the vil­lains from the pre­vi­ous title are still up to no good, spy­ing on the res­i­dents of the for­est and plan­ning an attack on the homeward-bound guests. For­tu­nately, the sur­prise is on them and the two wolves lose both their pride and their fur. This is fairy-tale fun at its best. Fol­low­ing these well-loved char­ac­ters on a new adven­ture tick­les the imag­i­na­tion with fan­ci­ful “what ifs.” Tryon’s won­der­fully intri­cate col­ored draw­ings, with their delight­ful details and care­fully wrought sce­nar­ios, bring the action to life. Per­spec­tive plays an impor­tant role in many of the pic­tures, from the wolf’s telescope-lens view of his vic­tims, to an inte­rior scene of Peter Rabbit’s den. Warm col­ors and sharp details pull read­ers right into the Hid­den For­est. The cli­mac­tic scenes are on word­less double-page spreads that per­fectly con­vey a sense of friv­o­lity and fear, while the final let­ter leaves read­ers hop­ing for yet another install­ment. Get on the mail­ing list for these let­ters. — Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY.

Book­list

Ages 4–7. In this sequel to Dear Peter Rab­bit (1994), a house­warm­ing party is planned for the Three Lit­tle Pigs through a series of let­ters between the pigs, Goldilocks, Baby Bear, and Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood. But the fairy tale char­ac­ters aren’t the only ones exchang­ing let­ters. Big, bad cousins Wolfy Lupus and Fer O’Cious have heard about the party and are writ­ing each other with some plans that spell trou­ble for the party goers. The let­ter for­mat is a bit con­fus­ing at first but will gain appeal as kids get the char­ac­ters straight in their minds. Each attrac­tive two-page spread fea­tures a let­ter and a fac­ing full-page pic­ture of the let­ter writer, often shown in some action that extends the story. Fans of the pre­vi­ous book or lovers of frac­tured fairy tales will be the book’s nat­ural audi­ence. Ilene Cooper.

READERS’ RESPONSES

Let­ter Writ­ing Book Bun­dle
From: http://laurabensonopenbook.blogspot.com

“First and fore­most, engage chil­dren in read­ing their own writing/letters and the work of their peers. As well as pro­vid­ing stu­dents with a rel­e­vant genre in which to learn more about text struc­ture, let­ter writ­ing is very moti­vat­ing for kids. Addi­tion­ally, let­ters pro­vide us with a rel­e­vant vehi­cle to teach stu­dents con­ven­tions and help them care about being mind­ful of con­ven­tions in their own writ­ing.” Read more »

If you have enjoyed read­ing or shar­ing this book, I would very much like to hear from you. Please click here to send your comments.