Current Reads & Reviews: Traditional Literature Variant of The Three Pigs

Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. ISBN: 06180087016

Summary: This beautifully illustrated version of The Three Pigs is hilarious and will have you and the little ones laughing out loud. As the pigs build their homes out of straw, sticks, and bricks. when suddenly "the wolf huffed and he puffed, and he blew" the pigs right out of their own story venturing them into other traditional tales meeting new characters along the way. Take flight with the three pigs to see where they might end up.

Analysis: This Caldecott award winning version of the original Three Little Pigs is quite different and very creative. The illustrations Wiesner has created are eye-catching and beautiful. He applies a variety of styles throughout this storybook. One page will look like the traditional tale, the next switching to comic book line drawings with little dialogue bubbles that show the pig's perspectives providing humor that will have you and the young ones giggling. I love how the pigs manipulate the pages of the story, for instance, taking the wolf's page and folding it into an airplane to transport them out of their story into new ones. I love how that very page ends up wrinkled and wrecked once they land. My favorite illustration is where the pigs are half in the story and half out. I like how Wiesner depicts this by applying different textures to the pigs. Each page is visually fun keeping the reader wondering where will the pigs end up next. It is really cool how the setting is the book itself! This plot will have students' imaginations running wild while making connections to other familiar tales they have heard, weaving in the old with the new.

Accolades/Scholarly Reviews: Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books-Recommended Titles 1996; Books And More For Growing Minds April 2001; School Selection Guide: E Classification Titles To Order K-8; Best Books For Children: Preschool-Grade 6 

From School Library Journal 04/01/2001: "Witty dialogue and physical comedy abound in this inspired retelling of a familiar favorite."

From Booklist 05/15/2001: "Wiesner's latest is a post-modern fantasy for young readers that takes Scieszka's fragmentation a step further: it not only breaks apart and deliciously reinvents the pigs' tale, it invites readers to step beyond the boundaries of story and picture book altogether."

Connections: Read other versions and variants of this story as there are many and have students make comparisons between them ending with them working together to create their own version of the story to share. Start with the Disney classic The Three Little Pigs, follow that with David Wiesner's version, then ending with the one from the Wolf's perspective called The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith.