Professor Goose Debunks Goldilocks and the Three Bears

With this picture book, children’s author Paulette Bourgeois, best-known for the beloved “Franklin the Turtle” series, introduces a completely new series for young readers, one featuring Professor Marie Curious Goose, the first gosling to attend the prestigious MIT (Mallards Institute of Technology) where she was awarded a PhD in Very Important Science. As part of her research, the conscientious Professor Goose has come to the shocking realization that her Great-Aunt Mother Goose never once fact-checked the science in her fairy tales or nursery rhymes. Unable to sit by while misinformation is spread to unsuspecting readers, the irrepressible Professor Goose sets out to debunk faulty science starting with the best-known Mother Goose tale of all, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”.

This is a fun concept; rather than fracturing the fairy tale, Bourgeois uses it as an opportunity to expand the fairy tale, connecting familiar narrative events with scientific explanations in side panels. Sometimes the actions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears have a solid basis in science, but, all too often, Professor Goose is horrified to realize that they do not! First, for example, Professor Goose establishes that bears never, ever live in comfy cottages or eat porridge. Her fact-checking leads to a side panel describing the natural habitat of the various bear species, from polar bears to pandas. Professor Goose is also eager to clarify that Mother Goose seriously misunderstood physics when she wrote that Mama Bear’s medium bowl of porridge was too cold but Baby Bear’s small bowl was just the right temperature. The laws of thermodynamics would indicate that the medium sized bowl has more thermal energy than the smaller bowl, and so it should have been warmer and not the reverse. And so it goes, with scientific explanations of why the baby bear’s chair broke, why bears hibernate in the winter, how baby bear correctly used the scientific method to find Goldilocks asleep in his bed, and how Goldilocks used the fight or flight response to run away so quickly when she was startled awake by the dumbfounded bear family. The book ends with a bonus craft project: a how-to lesson in building a cardboard chair fit for a teddy bear.

Professor Goose Debunks Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a fun and inventive way to introduce young children to STEM concepts and the scientific method, and fairy tales provide endless scope for debunking! Alex Griffiths’ cartoony illustrations are an effective complement, showing Professor Goose infiltrating the fairy tale action and reacting in dismay to the unscientific goings-on. My only concern is that this book introduces a LOT of different scientific concepts and not all of them are as closely connected to the story’s action as others. However, this is a minor issue, and, overall, this book is a promising start to an entertaining new picture book series.