For fans of Shannon Hale, Adam Gidwitz, and Michael Buckley comes a luminous new twist on a tale readers only thought they knew. . .   Once upon a time, there was a girl with golden locks. But that’s just the beginning of this tale. The real story begins with a bear.   Ursula is a young she-bear who has come to work as a governess at the Vaughn estate. Although she is eager to instruct her young charge, Teddy, she is also frightened, especially when inexplicable things happen in the huge house after dark. Ursula is sure she has heard footsteps in the hallways at night, and that something is following her during her walks in the Enchanted Forest. Then there is Mr. Bentley, a young bear also employed by Mr. Vaughn, whose superior disposition is enough to drive Ursula to tears . . . and yet why does he also make her heart race? As Ursula works to unravel the mysteries of the Vaughn manor, she will have to be very, very careful. After all, true love, justice, and a girl with golden locks are at stake. And in the Enchanted Forest, not every fairy tale is destined for a happily ever after. "Featuring a new interpretation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this novel weaves other nursery rhyme characters throughout the story. Beautifully written with thought-provoking vocabulary, it’s best suited for strong readers who will also recognize the themes of social justice. Highly recommended." — School Library Journal , starred review  Katherine Coville is an artist, a sculptor, and a doll maker. She has also illustrated more than 30 books, many written by her husband, Bruce Coville. Katherine lives in Syracuse, New York, with Bruce and a varying assortment of pets. This is her first book for young readers. 1 Errare Humanum Est The Cottage in the Woods, they called it. Later on that became the gatekeeper’s lodge, yet they had been so happy there that they kept the name for their grand new manor house. Mr. Vaughn couldn’t have been any prouder if he had built that place with his own two paws. It was his vision, his will behind it all, as if he’d wrestled it from rock and timber himself. It was no cottage either. The very thought is laughable. Eight bedrooms it had in the east wing alone, with balconies, and hot and cold running water no less. And the huge nursery, of course. They had such hopes, such dreams! And then there was the great hall itself, so grand, with the parquet floor and the carved mantelpiece; the den, for him, and the solarium, for her; and the drawing room with the crystal chandelier. And out through the French doors were the terrace and the gardens. Those French doors that the servants said never did shut right. The one flaw. That whole great house just sitting there, and a child could have opened those doors. And did. But rustic? No, nothing rustic about it, not even my own quarters. Yet they talk about the three bowls, three chairs, three beds as if that were all there was. No one seems to realize that that was as far as the girl could count then. There was so much she didn’t know. A regular little savage she was in the beginning. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Master Teddy would’ve stopped me with a look, and insisted that I start over. Nothing pleased him half so much as a story well told. I was an eager young bear that fall when I first came to live at the Cottage. I had been taken on as governess to Master Teddy, my first position. Fresh out of school and desperately anxious to please, I was determined to prove myself and make my dear papa proud. Papa had raised me from a cub after Mama died, and he’d showered as much love on me as any two parents could have. “Ursula,” he would say to me, “you’re the apple of my eye and the beat of my heart!” And so it was with great ambition and pride that I set off to join the Vaughns’ household. Indeed, my father and Mr. Vaughn had been friends in their university days, and I knew that Father greatly prized Mr. Vaughn’s good opinion. My own parents had married young--married for love--and I had come along shortly thereafter. Mr. Vaughn had married much later, after he had made his fortune in lumber and speculation. He had prospered brilliantly, while Father struggled by as headmaster of a small school. But their friendship still thrived. Papa was a great believer in education, and so, despite our slim resources, he had managed to send me to the fine private seminary for young ladies that had lately been the center of my life. At Miss Pinchkin’s Academy for Young Ladies, I received instruction in literature, history, art, music, French, science, natural history, geography, algebra, and comportment, including how to serve tea, and how to properly respond to a young man proposing matrimony. Feeling keenly the faith that Papa placed in me, and wanting so to please him, I had worked my hardest and graduated in three years, the youngest in my class. Upon my graduation, Papa presented me with the most precious gift I had ever received, my mama’s silver loc