The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Scieszka, Jon.  1989.  THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS.  Ill. by Lane Smith.  New York:  Viking Penguin. ISBN  0670827592

PLOT SUMMARY

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS is a version of the original story told from Al's point of view.  A. Wolf was making a birthday cake for his sweet Granny when he realized he needed a cup of sugar.  He does what anyone would do and walks to his neighbor’s house to see if he can borrow a cup of sugar.  While there, he has a sneezing fit and accidentally blows the pig’s house over and kills the pig.  Not wanting to waste good meat, he decides to eat the pig.  He still needs a cup of sugar so he walks to the next neighbor’s house.  While there, he gets another sneezing fit and again accidentally blows the house down and kills another pig.  Even though he was full, he didn’t want to see good meat go bad, so he ate this pig as well.  The third pig told him he didn’t have sugar and as Al was walking away, the pig starting talking bad about his Granny.  This aggravated Al so he tried to break into the pig’s house.  This is when the police showed up and of course they only listened to the pig’s side of the story.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This comical version of The Three Little Pigs is told from a new point of view.  While this book is funny for those that know the original story, it might be confusing for students who are not familiar with the more traditional version. Although it strays from the original storyline, you can still see how it follows the more traditional versions.  I enjoyed seeing how Scieszka got most of the more famous lines into Al’s version of the story.  The straw house and the stick house get blown down by his “huffing and puffing,” but Al was only at their houses to borrow a cup of sugar.  It’s not his fault the houses fall down because “who in his right mind would build a house of straw?”  The second pig won’t let Al in because he is “shaving the hairs on my chinny chin chin.”

The water color illustrations from this book seem more abstract than illustrations I’ve seen in other books.  These illustrations really help tell the wolf’s side of the story.  You see him whistling while he walks down the path to the first pig’s house as he tossing his cup into the air.  It makes it seem as if the wolf doesn’t have a care in the world.  The illustrations also make the third pig seem like the villain by the look on his face while the wolf is just trying to keep from sneezing. 

REVIEW EXCERPT

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review: “Designed with uncommon flair, this gaily newfangled version of the classic tale takes sides with the villain.”

CONNECTIONS

-Use when studying point of view

-Have students re-write another well known story from a different point of view.

-Discuss with students when studying how the media often only tells one side of the story.