REVIEW OF “THE THREE PIGS”

REVIEW OF “THE THREE PIGS”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wiesner, David. 2001. The Three Pigs. New York, NY: Clarion Books. 0618007016.

PLOT SUMMARY

This picture book begins with the original tale of Three Little Pigs and a Wolf. However, as the story unfolds, the illustrations show how the pigs take it upon themselves to move the pages to create their own story. While they are moving the pages, they inadvertently enter other children’s favorites. They finally save a mighty dragon and pick up the pieces of the pages to get back to the brick house in their own adventure. The pigs choose the ending of the story. The dragon threatens the wolf and drives him to jump down the chimney. Of course, the three pigs and their hero, the dragon, live happily ever.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
“The Three Little Pigs” meets Jacobs and O’Tunnell’s criteria of a good book. The illustrations are colorful, unique, and clarify the content, the vocabulary is simple, and the subject matter is familiar. This book teaches young readers that they have the choice to interpret and imagine different endings for other tales. In the beginning of the book, the wolf is shown as a large powerful figure. The illustrator reflects this by drawing a wolf which is larger than the house. The pig’s comparable size to the birds shows their helplessness. At the end of the story the depiction of the wolf proves how powerless he actually is. The overwhelmingly large dragon intimidates the wolf into a look of surrender. The illustrations explain the surprising twists in the well-known story of The Three Little Pigs.

The harmonious use of color throughout the book encourages readers to relax and enjoy the journey. The blank spaces in the pages make one speculate about the next turn in the adventure. In some instances, color is used to portray the pigs as more important to the story line. When the pigs enter an imaginary story about a dragon that guards a golden rose, the illustrator displays black and white pictures to show the pigs taking the dragon out of the picture frame.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred review from Publishers Weekly (March 12, 2001): “As readers have come to expect from the inventive works of Wiesner, nothing is ever quite as it seems in his picture books. . . . Wiesner's brilliant use of white space and perspective . . . evokes a feeling that the characters can navigate endless possibilities—and that the range of story itself is limitless.”

New York Times, Book Review (May 20, 2001): “Wiesner's dialogue and illustrations are clever, whimsical and sophisticated.”

Starred review from School Library Journal (January 4, 2001): K-Gr 6-In Tuesday (Clarion, 1991), Wiesner demonstrated that pigs could fly. Here, he shows what happens when they take control of their story. In an L. Leslie Brooke sort of style (the illustrations are created through a combination of watercolor, gouache, colored inks, and pencils), the wolf comes a-knocking on the straw house. When he puffs, the pig gets blown "right out of the story."

CONNECTIONS
This is a good book to invite children, young and old, to use their imagination to write a different ending to a story.
Other imaginative versions of the “Three Little Pigs” are:
The True Story of the Three Pigs (ISBN: 0140540563) by Jon Scieszka
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas (ISBN: 068981528X)
Wait! No Paint (ISBN: 0060282711 ) by Bruce Whatley

Other books by David Wiesener are:
Flotsam (ISBN: 0618194576)
Tuesday (ISBN: 0395870828)