Fairy Tale Mix Ups: Red Riding Hood Meets the Three Bears

Charlotte Guillain explores the idea of what happens when encounters with the Big Bad Wolf causes Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood not to follow their traditional story paths in her book Red Riding Hood Meets the Three Bears (Fairy Tale Mix-ups). This book ponders what might have happened if Red Riding Hood arrived at the Three Bears house mistaking it for her grandmother's house. Being a regular guest in someone else's home will she perhaps react differently to the bear's home than Goldilocks?

It is a bit disturbing that the wolf decides to head out after Goldilocks instead of Red Riding Hood and we are left wondering what happens to Goldilocks. Goldilocks is pretty tough, she destroyed the bear's home and walked away clean. So perhaps the wolf will wish he'd stuck with the original plan and gone after Red Riding Hood. If she ends up at Grandmas will Grandma be able to teach Goldilocks proper manners and behavior for visiting strangers?

This is a fairly simple story, but it actually can start some interesting conversations like the one above about what happened to Goldilocks. The author doesn't tell us, but it is a way to get students thinking about what the author doesn't tell us. The author doesn't tell us why Red Riding Hood behaves so differently than Goldilocks but it doesn't stop us from discussing why they acted so differently. Do you think there will be problems between the Three Bears and the Big Bad Wold in the future now that the Bear Family and Red Riding Hood have become friends?