The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Bibliography:

Scieszka, Jon. 1989. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Ill. Lane Smith. Scholastic: New York. 

ISBN: 0-590-44357-7

Summary:

Alexander T. Wolf tells his tale of wrongful prosecution regarding the murders of two little pigs and the attempted murder of their other brother.  According to Al, he is not big or bad, it is just a case of a cold and a cup of sugar.  Al is making his sweet granny a birthday cake when he runs out of sugar and must go to a neighbor's house to ask for a cup of sugar.  He goes to the first little pig's house where he is ignored and due to a sudden sneezing fit, accidentally blows the first house down.  Always a waste-not, want-not type of guy, Al has a ham dinner and continues on to his next neighbors house.  The first little pigs brother, a busy little pig refuses to let the wolf in, just as Al has another sneezing attack and once again, causes a total house destruction.  Once again, in order to not let food spoil, Al has a second helping of ham and continues on his quest for a cup of sugar.  At the third little pig's house, Al is met with rude defiance, and even an insult to his dear old granny.  Just when Al is giving this pig a piece of his mind, sneezing and carrying on, the police and press show up sensationalizing the story and throwing Al in jail labeling him as big and bad.  Al is still looking for a cup of sugar.

Analysis:

Scieszka's fractured fairy tale utilizes an easy-going tone to relate the wolf's perspective of the classic three little pigs tale.  A. Wolf narrates the tale, attempting to issue sympathy from the reader.  Scieszka plays with words, saying the wolf "huffed" and "snuffed" and sneezed the houses down instead of the traditional huffing and puffing.  The playful narrative lends itself to comedic reading and playful re-enacting.  The illustrator, Lane Smith compliments Scieszka's antics with watercolor interpretations that depict the story with added comedic elements.  The reader sees a cute little animal burger and bunny ears sticking out of sweet old granny's birthday cake.  The sometimes dark illustrations set off the alternate version and make the reader think about what they've always been told is "the real story".


Reviews:

In this gaily newfangled version of a classic tale, Scieszka and Smith ( Flying Jake ) argue in favor of the villain, transforming the story of the three little pigs into a playfully suspicious, rather arch account of innocence beleaguered. Quoth the wolf: "I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all wrong.'' According to his first-person testimony, the wolf went visiting the pigs in search of a neighborly cup of sugar; he implies that had the first two happened to build more durable homes and the third kept a civil tongue in his head, the wolf's helpless sneezes wouldn't have toppled them. As for his casual consumption of the pigs, the wolf defends it breezily ("It seemed like a shame to leave a perfectly good ham dinner lying there in the straw'') and claims cops and reporters "framed'' him. Smith's highly imaginative watercolors eschew realism, further updating the tale, though some may find their urbane stylization and intentionally static quality mystifyingly adult. Designed with uncommon flair, this alternative fable is both fetching and glib. - Publisher's Weekly

School Library Journal said of it, "Smith’s dark tones and sometimes shadowy, indistinct shapes recall the distinctive illustrations he did for Merriam’s Halloween ABC (Macmillan, 1987); the bespectacled wolf moves with a rather sinister bonelessness, and his juicy sneezes tear like thunderbolts through a dim, grainy world. It’s the type of book that older kids (and adults) will find very funny." - from School Library Journal online


# 14 Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results - School Library Journal, April 2009


Connections:

• Author Study of Jon Scieszka's books - www.jsworldwide.com for complete book list and information regarding the author and his life

• Traditional tales unit of study focusing on the Three Little Pigs tale: 
• The Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg
• The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall
• The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone