THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka

1. Bibliographic Data

Scieszka, Jon. 1996. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!. Ill by Lane Smith. New York, NY: Puffin Books. ISBN 0670827592

2. Plot Summary

Alexander T. Wolf, or A. Wolf for short, wants to set the story straight. He isn't really the big, bad wolf history has made him out to be. He is truly a misunderstood fellow, who is the victim of circumstance and bad press. He tells readers that it all began when he tried to make a birthday cake for his dear grandma. A quest to borrow a cup of sugar and an unfortunately powerful sneeze lead to the accidental demise of two piggy neighbors, a few unexpected ham dinners, an unpleasant encounter with one “rude little porker,” and culminating in prison time for the framed wolf. This is the story of how A. Wolf became the undeserving victim of bad press.

2. Critical Analysis

Don't judge a book by it's cover; that is the moral of A. Wolf's sad tale as told to Jon Scieszka. Set “Way back in Once Upon a Time time,” Scieszka hilariously retells A. Wolf's woeful tale of misunderstanding and bad timing to audiences in a natural and easy narrative which will leave them supporting Wolf's decision not to let those poor dead pigs go to waste, and wanting to offer him a cup of their own sugar for granny's birthday cake. True to the fairytale we all grew up with, Scieszka's story follows the same dramatic arc of events as the traditional, “Three Little Pigs,” except with a clever twist. Wolf didn't really huff and puff and blow the pigs' houses down. Instead he “huffed, snuffed” and “sneezed a great sneeze” to accidentally blow down some badly made houses. Readers will delight in this new twist to a classic fairy tale.

Lane Smith's sepia toned illustrations work hand in hand with Scieszka's text to bring A. Wolf's memories to life. Using the iconic imagery of the three little pigs' homes to bring the story back to the classic tale, Smith adds his own flare to this familiar world as the characters are dressed in familiar modern apparel and use contemporary accouterments like safety razors to shave hairy chinny-chin-chins. Clever details in each illustration like the fluffy bunny ears hanging out of a ridiculously tall hamburger or sticking out of the cake batter only add to the text's humor. Smith's art effortlessly intertwines with the text of the story to produce a series of delighted laughs froim the audience.

This humorous, unexpected new version of the classic The Three Little Pigs is bound to become a family favorite.

4. Awards Won and Review Excerpt(s)

ALA Notable Book

*Publishers Weekly: "Designed with uncommon flair...”

*School Library Journal: “It's the type of book that older kids (and adults) will find very funny.”

*Booklist: “Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (1989) turned the favorite porkers' story upside-down by allowing the grossly misjudged wolf to tell his side of the story.”

     5.  Connections

*Scieskzka writes the story of The Three Little Pigs from the perspective of the villain, the Big Bad Wolf, with humorous consequences. Try writing your own fractured fairy tale. Take another classic fairy tale and create your own story from the perspective of the villain. You could even try your hand at writing your own version of The Three Little Pigs. Talk about perspective and how it can change how a situation is viewed and how the actions of an individual are interpreted.

*Try making your own houses for the three little pigs. You can use straw or dried grass clipped to make a house of straw, twigs or popsicle sticks for the stick house, and sugar cubes or Lego blocks to make your house of bricks.

*More books by Jon Scieszka:

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fiarly Stupid Tales. ISBN 067084487X

Math Curse. ISBN 0670861944

The Frog Prince, Continued. ISBN 0670834211

The Knights of the Kitchen Table. ISBN 0142400432

*More versions of The Three Little Pigs:

Gravett, Emily. Wolf Won't Bite!. ISBN 1442427639

McNamara, Margaret. The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot. ISBN 9780375986949

Kimmel, Eric A. The Three Little Tamales. ISBN 9780761455196

Trumbauer, Lisa. The Three Little Pigs: The Graphic Novel. ISBN 9781434211958

Hillert, Margaret. The Three Little Pigs. ISBN 9781599530505