This hysterical collision of fairy tales, Perils of Pauline style melodrama, and the Gold Rush West cries out for audience participation. GRACIE PEARL LIVES with her pa deep in the heart of gold minin' country. But the mine is empty and the two have fallen on hard times. Now the villainous banker Mr. Bigglebottom wants them to pay back the money they owe him or he plans to take Gracie Pearl as his wife. As Gracie goes in search of gold she encounters a series of characters young readers will find strangely familiar--from a blonde girl who ate Bigglebottom's porridge and is now pursued by three bears to a very long-haired girl whom he has locked up in a tower. Through clever plotting, charmingly drawn characters and a well-tuned ear for dialect, Hopkins has crafted another first-rate fairy tale, raucously brought to life by Goodell. Humorous asides sprinkled throughout the text encourage young readers to play along with the story and its surprise ending will please young and old alike.