The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

Written by John Scieszka, Illustrated by Lane Smith

*****

Ages 6-9

The story of the three little pigs told from the wolf's perspective and all starting with a cup of sugar.  The wolf tells of the misunderstanding based around his strange eating habits and some stingy pigs which lands him in jail and labels him the "Big Bad Wolf". 

This hilarious retelling of the three little pigs is not for those with a weak stomach however the illustration of wolf's dinner with bunny ears and pig tails poking out will make kids squirm with delight. The whole story is so delightfully quirky while edging on sinister.  A great twist on the original fairy tale, this is the story of how the big bad wolf was really the defenseless victim.  Details in the writing and illustrations make, great asides to classic fairy tales.  The first page has small, picturesque illustrations in the text which are confronted with the first turn of the page where we see the wolf, Alexander T. Wolf, depicted as an old man with spectacles in a jail suit.  Al narrates with "Way back in Once Upon a Time time" as he bakes a cake for his granny who we see as in a framed picture, is the wolf/granny from Little Red Riding Hood.  These are the details children will recognize and relate to and bring humor when everything confronts the normal fairy tale expectations.  Al is just such a darn personal and rational speaking narrator that we sympathize with him even as he is eating the dead pigs (they were going to go to waste after all...). We do not feel to bad because there is really no redeemable character in the story.  However parts of the book make the reader a little uncomfortable and you have to questions Al's reliability as a narrator.  Al's complex character is what I love most about the story.  You can relate and sympathize with him even as you realize he has a seriously questionable sense of right and wrong. 

This is a complex picture book for children because there are so many hidden themes and really no obvious moral lessons, which confronts most literature used in the classroom. While they will definitely enjoy the story there are so many opportunities for questioning and reflection over themes within the book that could be overlooked and leave the story unexplored.  I would like to do a critical social analysis of the story.  In the beginning of the story Al wonders why people have such a bad image of him and decides it might be because he is different, has a strange diet and people do not understand him.  This could start a whole conversations on how we view people who are different.  What are some differences between us?  Are there some differences that we view as "worse" than others and why?  I love that there is no black and white, good and evil characters in the book.  This will leave many readers uncomfortable and give us the opportunity to really analyse the characters without being told what to think.  Is the wolf bad because he eats pigs?  What about animals in the wild?  We would discuss how the characters are represented and if we are supposed to value one animal group over the other.  This book would definitely need a lot of surrounding investigation and instruction I would not want to leave my students with such possibly controversial issues untouched.  I would like to incorporate it into a variety of cross curricular projects and a larger text study.