Book excerpt: Award-winning storyteller Donna L. Washington has cooked up a delightfully spooky tale in this imaginative twist on the classic "Goldilocks." Curly Locks is a good-hearted girl, but she's an awful cook. All the townspeople of Toadsuck Swamp know to steer clear of her peculiar dishes—like batwing brownies and toad eye toffees. So it's quite a mystery when one of her dishes goes missing from her windowsill. Next morning, chaos breaks out in town and word spreads how the Scares of Toadsuck Swamp are running wild and terrorizing the town at mealtime. They shriek "Gitchey Boo, Gitchey Bon! Gitchey Goo, Gitchey Gone!" and send folk running for their lives! But Curly Locks isn't frightened, and she has an inkling her unsavory cooking can help corral those Scares for good. Exercising tremendous narrative skill, internationally known storyteller Donna L. Washington breathes a spirited new life into an old classic. Her clever, can-do protagonist and joyful language pair brilliantly with Jeffrey Ebbeler's fantasy-like illustrations. This enchanting read is a treat for any time of the year!