The two folklore books that I read this week are Saint George and the Dragon, retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, retold and illustrated by JamesMarshall.

 Saint George is a Hero Tale that follows an unnamed knight, known as the Red Cross Knight, as he travels to defeat the evil dragon who has been terrorizing the nearby kingdom. The picture book is based on Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, but removes much of the blatant allegory and religious nature, focusing instead on the epic journey and battle with the dragon. The knight risks his life (and come within a hair of death multiple times) to defeat the dragon, staying true and brave and maintaining the virtues of a true knight. The Illustrations help add to the majestic and epic nature of the tale and it is no surprise that the detailed look led the book to win the Caldecott in 1985. The artist styled the pages in a way that invokes the feeling of an illustrated manuscript, having a full page of text boxed in the center of the page and surrounded by a border of flowers, vines, symbols, and more.

Goldilocks is the classic folktale about the golden-haired child who made herself home in a strangers house. I believe the book falls into the folktale story due to it being a talking animal story that derives from a well known oral tradition. This telling of the old favorite doesn't stray far from the traditional telling but does add a few new highlights. The author makes it known from the start that Goldilocks is a bit of a nuisance, both by describing her as a naughty little girl and by including this dialogue to open the story ""what a sweet child," said someone new in town. "that's what you think," said a neighbor." The author also sets up the difference between the mischievous goldilocks and the good-natured bear family by depicting the human child with small beady eyes and a flat grin, and showing the 3 bears as a colorful, expressive, and formally dressed group.

the 3 picture books that I read for the week are the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, Pig the Winner, and The Way I Feel. The first two stories definitely fall under the picture storybook umbrella, as both use art and words to tell a full narrative. I would argue that the 3rd book would be considered a picture book, as it is comprised of showing how different children look and behave when they feel a certain way. There is no overarching narrative, instead, the purpose of the book is to show children what emotions are and how we should be comfortable expressing them.

Mr. Morris Lessmore's story is a beautiful narrative about a bibliophile who happens upon a library that is filled with flying books. He spends his days reading new stories and sharing them with the community. The illustrations do a beautiful job of showcasing the magical quality of a library and what getting lost in a good book can feel like. In one case Mr. Lessmore literally finds himself inside the pages of a book, running around and dancing throughout the page. These pages have no narrative words on them, instead, the illustrations express the emotions of Mr. Lessmore.

Pig the Winner is a hilariously illustrated book that shows how competitive a household pug is with his adoptive brother Trevor, and shows just how far he will go to be declared the winner or any competition or game. The illustrations of Pig made me laugh out loud as you were able to see how completely crazy (specifically crazy-eyed) he became when there was a chance of winning at every little thing. Children would certainly enjoy the blend of pictures and words that are used to tell Pig and Trevor's story.

The book that I had the pleasure of reading was Finding Winnie, the True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear. The book is written by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, and won the Caldecott Medal in 2016. The book flips between past and current eras as the author tells her son the story of her great-grandfather Captain Harry Colebourn and his bear Winnie. The beautiful illustrations help bridge the two storylines together as on most pages there is a small picture of Lindsay and her son within the larger illustrations of Harry and Winnie's journey. the contrasting eras are further pronounced through their distinctive illustration styles. Winne and Harry's style are full-page depictions filled with details and softly colored with watercolors, while Lindsay and Cole's portraits are small, black and white, pen and ink sketches. I believe these separations in style may have been done to help the reader separate what is happening in the story, as the "story within a story" plot could be hard to follow, or easily looked over for a young reader, but having the two separate scenes on one page gives them a visual reminder that there are two plots taking place. Overall the pictures in the book work well to complement and help narrative the written elements of the story.