The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Bibliography
Scieszka, Jon. 1989. The true story of the 3 little pigs.  Ill by Lane Smith. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.:          Viking Kestrel.  ISBN 0670827592

Plot Summary 

     This is another version of the beast tale, The Three Little Pigs.  This version is told from the point of view of the wolf.  It begins with the wolf baking a cake for his grandmother and battling a cold.  While baking his cake, he runs out of sugar so he decided to go and ask his neighbors for some.  The first neighbor he approaches is a pig who lives in a house made entirely of straw.  When the wolf gets no answer from the pig, a sneeze overcomes him and he accidentally blows the entire house down, killing the pig.  The next neighbor is also a pig but his house was made of sticks.  After being told to go away by this neighbor, another sneeze over came the wolf and he ended up blowing this house down and killing the pig as well.  The wolf decided to try another neighbor after this but this neighbor was smarter and built his house out of bricks.  The pig in this house was so rude to the wolf that it upset him enough to make him act out of anger and that is when the cops arrived.  The cops arrested the wolf and the news reporters twisted the story into what we all know as the big, bad wolf in the The Three Little Pigs.  

Critical Analysis 

     This story is very typical of traditional literature for children in several ways.  First, the setting is very vague.  We know that it takes place "way back in Once Upon a Time time" on a road with at least four houses but are not given anymore information besides that.  Second, there is a strong theme in this story and it is that there are always two sides to every story and that people are not always what they seem.  The wolf in this story had good intentions but kept running into unfavorable circumstances.  The style of this story is also similar to those of traditional literature.  "Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig, are you in?" is a repeated element throughout the story making it easy for the children reading the book to remember.

    The illustrations in this book are appropriate for the book.  The illustrator used warm colors that are reminiscent of the earlier versions of the story.  The illustrations compliment the story nicely as well.  In particular, the illustrations that show the houses in crumbles after the wolf blew them down are intriguing.  All the reader sees is a pile of straw or sticks and the rear end of a dead pig sticking up.  This is humorous for children and adults alike.

Review Excerpts

• Junior Bookshelf- "Pure creativity!"
• The Bookseller (1989)- "One of the best books of the year, exuding vitality and energy."

Connections

*Similar titles-

    --The three horrid little pigs by Liz Pichon ISBN 9781589250772

    --The three little pigs by James Marshall ISBN 0803705913 

*Have the young readers write a letter to Alexander T. Wolf in jail.  They can ask him questions they might have about the incident or simply show their support.