Traditional Literature: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Scieszka, Jon, Trans.  1996.  THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS Ill. by Lane Smith.  New York, NY:  Puffin Books. ISBN  0140544518

PLOT SUMMARY

The story you have always heard about the three little pigs is wrong! Alexander T. Wolf (A. Wolf) is here to tell you the true story of the three little pigs. A. Wolf is in the middle of baking a cake for his sweet, old granny when he realizes he is out of sugar. The only problem is that he has a cold and does not fell very well. He sets upon the quest of finding sugar by visiting his neighbor, a pig with a house made of straw. A. Wolf knocks on the door and the pig rudely shoos him away. AS he goes to leave, he sneezes and blows the house down, killing the pig. The wolf does not want to let any food spoil, so he eats the pig. Still in need of sugar he visits the next house, a pig with a home of stick. A. Wolf gets the same response and accidentally sneezes the house down. Again, not wanting to let food spoil, he eats the pig. He finally comes upon the last pig’s house, made of brick, and gets the very same response as the others. As he is about to sneeze the last house down the police show up and frame the wolf for the pig’s death. The newspapers at the end show the story of how the wolf killed the pigs on purpose.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS is one of the most famous fractured fairytales. Jon Scieszka, tells the story of A. Wolf and how he was framed for the murders of the three little pigs. A. Wolf spends most of his time trying to convince the reader on “wolf’s honor” that he did not purposely kill the pigs. The reader can pick up on some of the subtle hints that this may not be true. At the beginning we see rabbit ears poking out of the cake batter A. Wolf is baking for his granny. He tries to get you to empathize with him by comparing the pigs to cheeseburgers.

The wolf is drawn very nicely, in a sweater vest and spectacles that sit on his nose. This helps the reader empathize with the wolf and getting them to think a wolf like him could never commit such heinous crimes. The illustrations are very dreamy and give the reader the feeling of being in a hazy, fairytale like world. This style helps the reader become immersed in the fairytale-like setting. The sneezes steal the show by tearing through the dream world as they rip the houses down.

Older readers as well as children will enjoy the dark humor this re-telling has to offer. They may enjoy trying to figure out if the wolf is really innocent or if they are being told a lie. Older children may question the validity of the wolf’s story because of some of the subtle hints that may say otherwise.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “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.”

BOOKLIST: “This is a funny, wildly imagined tale that encourages kids to leap beyond the familiar, to think critically about conventional stories and illustration, and perhaps to flex their imaginations and create wonderfully subversive versions of their own stories.”

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: “In this humorous story, Alexander T. Wolf tells his own outlandish version of what really happens during his encounter with the three pigs…. Smith's simplistic and wacky illustrations add to the effectiveness of this fractured fairy tale.”

CONNECTIONS

*This story would be a great introduction to the world of upside-down or fractured fairy tales with different points of view or shifting perspective.

* Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award (North Dakota) (1991)

* Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland) (1991

*Other fractured fairytales:

Cole, Babette. PRINCE CINDERS. ISBN 0698115546

Ketteman, Helen. WAYNETTA AND THE CORNSTALK: A TEXAS FAIRY TALE. ISBN: 0807586889

Scieszka, Jon. THE STINK CHEESE MAN AND OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES. ISBN: 067084487