The Three Snow Bears

Jan Brett is indisputably one of the biggest names in children’s literature at present, and rightfully so. Her stories are profound and her illustrations are masterful. Perhaps because she has so many excellent books to live up to, her latest release, The Three Snow Bears, is a decidedly underwhelming example of her work. The book is an arctic revisioning of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a trite and relatively unengaging choice on Brett’s part. The bland, contrived storytelling and weak illustrations almost suggest that The Three Snow Bears was a rush job. One popular feature of Brett’s books is the lively borders that tell another, concurrent story while encircling the main narrative. While this book has borders, they exist almost as an afterthought, and fail to provide depth to the story as we have seen them do in Brett’s other work. Jan Brett is indubitably a wonderful children’s author, and hopefully the shortcomings of this release won’t cloud this fact in the eyes of her readers.