Personally, I'm all about the Brothers Grimm-y versions of fairy tales; if the big bad wolf gets it, or the evil queen has to dance in red hot shoes, well ya know, I'm telling the story that way because that's how the stories ARE, and there's a reason for it. Recasting them so everyone is buddies in the end or whatever--it ain't right.

Even so, Louisa received this as a Christmas gift this year (in the board book version) and Jan Brett's artwork is so charming and her version is so clever, it won me over. When I tell the story out loud without a book in my hands, that cookie still gets eaten up, but reading this to the girls is a perfectly enjoyable alternative.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor