Jeanne Willis has taken the traditional Goldilocks story and turned it into a marvellous, rhyming lesson about the trouble caused by the relentless pursuit of “likes” on social media. This large, hardback version of the book is gloriously illustrated with trademark humour, by Tony Ross.
Goldilocks starts her social media presence by posting very average “selfies”, but becomes discontent that the only likes she receives are from her mum. After a great response from her friends to a picture of her baby brother covered in jam, she begins posting increasingly embarrassing photos, until the response to these also pales with her followers.
This leads to increasingly risky behaviour, following the classic Goldilocks narrative, in an attempt to entertain her followers. Inevitably, this course of action lands our protagonist in a heap of trouble, and Goldilocks realises that her bad behaviour will always be available on the internet for all to see.
This is a perfect book for all schools to add to their armoury of internet safety resources. It is hugely enjoyable to read aloud to Early Years and Key Stage One classes, and early KS2 children will enjoy returning to the story too. In an age where even reception children are able to use mobile devices to take photos and videos, the message of this story,
“Think twice before you send!”
has to be reinforced regularly and this is a wonderfully engaging way to do so. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to all families and schools.
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