The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

Scieszka, J.  (1989).  The true story of the three little pigs!.  New York, NY:  Penquin Books USA.

Oh my goodness!  This book is witty, whimsical and incredibly illustrated.  As a parent and a lifelong reader, I often tire of the "cute" children's book images with the same old song and dance stories.  This is a breath of fresh air! 

Upon first glance at the cover, your attention is drawn to the newspaper style headlines and "photo" of the wolf.  It uses a collage type format of newspaper print and appears to be held by a pig foot.  This cover makes you want to start turning pages.  It's an excellent opening!

As you may have guessed by the title, Mr. A. Wolf wants to tell the story, HIS story.  He proceeds to explain the tale we have all heard.  However, according to the wolf, we have been misinformed and a simple explanation exists for all of the bad press he has received.

The illustrations used in this book are a mixture of expressionistic and cartoon.  The animals are somewhat natural looking, however they have been assigned human qualities, such as using a chalkboard and baking a cake.  The colors are earth-tones that lend themselves to the 'outdoor' elements of the animals' lives.  Illustrator Lane Smith even uses the letters as art in this book as seen here in the "E" at the beginning of the story.  He uses all the elements of the pigs' houses to create the first letter of the story.

Getting to read the "other side" of the story is a great way to incorporate a unit on being aware of different views.  How would our view of the wolf had been different had we heard his story first?  Would we think about pigs differently?  What about wolves?  Have we ever had a situation where we didn't consider someone else's view before making a decision?  We could also use it for a unit on foods and what various animals eat.  Would we think about people differently if cheeseburgers were as cute as pigs?  The wolf asks that question and it's one we could use in class.  These are just a few ideas of how to use this book.  For the ages of five and up, this story is a funny, appropriate read for school age children. 

I loved this book and the humor that it brings to a classic story.