When Goldilocks gets slimed while visiting the Three Bears, the curious (and outraged) little girl leads an ever-growing cast of fairy-tale characters in an investigation into who is responsible. Soon the Wolf (from both Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs), Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Pigs, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother have all joined the ranks of those who have been slimed. In the end, the culprit is the Frog Prince, angry that no one has been paying attention to him...

I picked up Once Upon a Slime with fairly low expectations, to be honest. Although I love fairy-tales, and appreciate a well-done revisionist take on them, I'm not really someone who finds "gross" things like slime and goo amusing. I was surprised to discover however that I found debut author Andy Maxwell's text quite enjoyable. There were moments, as when we discover that the wolf plays a role in multiple tales - "Just cool your chinny chin chins, dudes, said Wolf. "Let's not forget which one of us got burned last time." "Wait, you're that wolf too?" asked Red. The wolf shrugged. "Hey, it's a living." - that had me chuckling aloud. Samantha Cotterill's illustrations, done in ink and watercolor and then enhanced digitally, are cute, in a cartoon-like way. My favorite pages, visually speaking, were the decorative end-papers, which showed a map of the fairy-tale settlement. Recommended to young fairy-tale fans who also have a taste for gross humor and revisionist mash-ups. ( )