In a refreshing retelling of a classic story, The 3 Bears & Goldilocks shows Goldilocks not as mischievious but simply curious, adventurous, and with a very good-hearted desire to help. The bears, also, are shown in a more realistic way--eating porridge mixed with bugs and living amidst debris--although granted, they still live in a rather un-bear-like abode. The story is well told, the illustrations are inventive and suit the story perfectly with mixed painting and photographic collage, and altogether, it's a wonderful take on a very familiar story. Two thumbs up!
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

Comments