Porridge Please!

Bear just wants to read his brand new book. That’s all. He’s tucked up in bed, determined to turn to ‘the very last page’ — when KNOCK, KNOCK! Fairytale chaos arrives at his door. Red Riding Hood has been chased. The Three Pigs need refuge. The Big Bad Wolf is, inevitably, lurking. But while the fairy-tale cast plead for safety (and all the porridge – some things never change), Bear grows increasingly irritable. ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT? I AM TRYING TO READ MY BOOK!’ he roars whilst his parents are outside fixing a small, broken chair.

Mucha’s text plays gleefully with narrative expectation. The Wolf is outrageous (and unexpectedly sneeze-prone), but the real twist lies in Bear himself. He may not be the reliable host we first assume. In fact, there’s a deliciously meta suggestion that Bear might be inside the very story he’s trying to finish — trapped in a loop that ends with a mischievous ‘READ AGAIN!’

Boutavant’s illustrations soften and sharpen in equal measure. His warm, textured palette and slightly Scarry-esque character design make the escalating absurdity feel inviting rather than threatening. The forest setting is cosy; the chaos, comic. Even the Wolf’s theatrics are rendered with slapstick charm.

But beneath the humour lies something sharper: a playful interrogation of storytelling itself. Who controls the tale? Who gets sympathy? And what happens when the supposed hero is more self-serving than the villain?

Funny, fast, and just a little bit wicked, this is a fractured fairy tale that understands its readers are clever — and rewards them for looking twice.