Traditional Literature #2 - The Three Little Pigs

By: David Wiesner

Credit: David Wiesner

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wiesner, David. The Three Little Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. ISBN 9780618007011

PLOT SUMMARY

In this classic story, retelling The Three Little Pigs with a twist of events. We start with your typical three little pigs building their homes. The first little pig is very responsible and encourages the other two to stop playing and build their homes. One pig made his house out of straw, the second pig made his house out of sticks and the responsible pig made his out of bricks. The wolf comes along and huffs and puffs and literally blow's the pigs off the pages and out of the storybook! The pigs take charge, create a paper airplane to explore their new surroundings. They meet new classic storybook characters in the process. When they return home, the pigs and their new friends beat the villain and win the day!

Credit: David Wiesner

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

David Wiesner, author, and illustrator, of The Three Little Pigs, takes a unique, modern, approach to this classic version of this tale. At times he uses a single illustration that fills the page, a two-page illustration and uses a comic style with frames and dialogue balloons. David Wiesner uses pencil and watercolors for his illustrations.

His creativity takes the reader on a wild journey using different storybook characters while letting the readers use their imagination. The setting often takes twists and turns, allowing the characters to be blown in and out of the book. For example, at the beginning of the story, the three pigs are illustrated as two-dimensional characters. Next, the pig is blown out of the story,  he is then three-dimensional. This pattern repeats itself with the characters in the book. When they are blown back into the book, they are put back into two-dimensional character form.

Credit: David Wiesner

Credit: David Wiesner

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

Caldecott Medal 2002

Publishers Weekly said, “Wiesner’s (Tuesday) brilliant use of white space and perspective (as the pigs fly to the upper right-hand corner of a spread on their makeshift plane, or as one pig’s snout dominates a full page) evokes a feeling that the characters can navigate endless possibilities–and that the range of story itself is limitless.”

The New York Times added, “Wiesner’s dialogue and illustrations are clever, whimsical and sophisticated.”

And School Library Journal summed it all up with, “Witty dialogue and physical comedy abound in this inspired retelling of a familiar favorite.”

CONNECTIONS

Book Connections By David Wisner:

*  Flotsam - ISBN 978-0618194575

*  Tuesday - ISBN 978-0395551134

*  Art & Max - ISBN 978-0618756636

*  Hurricane - ISBN 978-0547064338

*  Free Fall - ISBN 978-0061567414

Activities To Use In The Classroom:

*  Sequencing - Make sentence strips of what happened 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the story.

*  Character Traits - Discuss the difference and similarities of the pigs. You could even make a Venn       Diagram and discuss with the class. How do the characters change over time in the book?

*  Predicting - Throughout the book, make some predictions of what will happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Did         your predictions come true? Write on a sticky and share with the class.

*  Story mapping - Setting changes throughout this story. Make a timeline, etc.

*  Writing activity - Write a different ending to this story. How do you think it should have ended.           Create your own pig with their own personality.  Share with the class.

Blog created for the purpose of TWU, Children's Literature Course #5603, and for the love of reading!