Traditional Literature-Review

The Three Pigs

By: David Wiesner

A. Bibliographic Data

Wiesner, David. 2001. The Three Pigs. Ill. by David Wiener. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

ISBN: 0-439-44517-5

B. Plot Summary

The Three Pigs begins like the traditional tale of the big bad wolf and the three little pigs. However, as the story progresses the pigs jump out of the story and leave the wolf high and dry. While the pigs are out of the story they explore and jump into other stories, such as the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle." The pigs also jump into a story about a knight and a dragon. The pigs make friends with the dragon by saving it from being slain by the knight, and they bring the dragon back into their original story. The story ends with the three pigs, the dragon, and the cat from the beloved nursery rhyme tricking the wolf and eating him in stew.

C. Critical Analysis

David Wiesner's version of The Three Pigs is a surprise within itself. The reader is expecting to find the basic same old tale of the story that has been passed down from generation to generation, but the reader actually finds a very different story indeed. While the beginning and the end are sort of the same as the original the middle is anything but that. Wiesner takes the three pigs on an adventure all of their own, by jumping from storybook to storybook. He also, uses speech and thought bubbles throughout the book to mix things up a bit. When looking at the cover of The Three Pigs the reader feels this will be the same original story, but as the reader begins to read this traditional tale, the reader quickly finds that this version of The Three Pigs is "original" all in its own.

Wiesner once again stuns his audience with the extraordinary pictures he produces for the book. The way he changes the images so the reader knows when the pigs are switching stories proves he is worthy of the Caldecott Medal. Different types of font are used to help the reader decipher what is informal text from a speech bubble, and what is the actually formal text of the story.

D. Awards Won

2002 Caldecott Medal

School Library Journal Review-""Witty dialogue and physical comedy abound in this inspired retelling of a familiar favorite."- School Library Journal

E. Connections

*Read different versions of The Thee Pigs and then have students compare and contrast the different versions of the story.

*Have students create their own story or comic strip by using speech and thought bubbles. Have students use the book for an example.

*Stress the importance of sequencing of events and have students draw different events in the story and then have the students work together to put the events in the correct order.