Mixed Family: Moldilocks and the Three Scares (A Zombie Tale)? by Lynne Marie

Life as one of the undead isn't going well for little Moldilocks.

Other kids aren't exactly eager to play with her. Wherever she goes, people seem to find another place to be right away.

Morose, Moldilocks wanders alone in the moonlight one night, until she comes upon a haunted house. Perhaps she can find a bite and somewhere to sleep there.

But inside lives an unusual family--the Three Scares. Papa is a monster in the Frankenstein mode; Mommy is a mummy, and Baby is a tiny vampire just cutting his first fangs. Inside the spooky residence, the three are just sitting down to supper.

This soup is so hot, it's boiling my bolts!" yelled Papa.

"It's so hot, I'm unraveling!" moaned Mommy Mummy.

"It's so hot it's giving me a fang-ache!" cried Baby.

Papa suggests they take their dog Plasma out for a moonlit walk while their supper cools.

And no sooner do they depart than Moldilocks approaches, tracking the homey smells of the house. In she goes, unable to resist Baby's bowl of soup. Apparently it's just right for zombie sipping, and with a full tummy, Moldi moves on to the parlor where there are three chairs. Tired and growing sleepy, she tries them all and settles for the smallest chair--Baby Vlad's--upon which to crash--which is just what happens.

Savvy young readers will think they know exactly where this one is going, but there's a jolly surprise ending, in which the Three Scares return to find a different head on Baby Scares' pillow, and it seems the homeless Moldilocks is just what the family needs to be complete.

"Wanna play Corpse and Robbers?" begs Baby.

From its rhyming spoofy title to its perfect take-off on the traditional English cautionary folktale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, author Lynn Marie's and illustrator David Lorenzo's punny and funny modern folk tale of the blended family uses the familiar Three Bears mold with a novel monster trope twist in their Moldilocks and the Three Scares: A Zombie Tale (Sterling Press, 2019 (Am. Ed.)

"Lorenzo's acrylic-and-colored-pencil illustrations feature rich and vivid colors; lots of bones, skulls, and spiderwebs make up most of the home's ambience. How this unusual family finds exactly what they were missing makes for a satisfying tale,” quoths Kirkus Reviews.