#35 The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (1989)
51 points
I remember when this book was the hit of the third grade. Everyone passed it around and read it and we all were cracking up. Fractured fairy tales in the hands of the skilled Jon Scieszka makes for fun reading! – Sarah
Rocky and Bullwinkle would have been proud. The fractured fairy tale is never so fractured as when it springs newborn from the mouth of the ultimate unreliable narrator. Consider it the book that brought us our Scieszka and our Lane. Though you might think that their Stinky Cheese Man would make it higher on the list, this is certainly not the case.
The synopsis from my old review: “As A. Wolf puts it, the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. One of those events that get blown way out of proportion. See, it’s like this… the wolf was just looking to borrow a cup of sugar for his poor bed-ridden granny. He wanted to make a cake for her, but finding himself lacking the necessary ingredients he went to his nearest neighbor to borrow some. Now here’s where it all went higgledy-piggledy. The pig (living in a straw home) didn’t answer the door and the wolf had a bad cold. By pure bad luck he accidentally sneezed the home down and, in effect, killed the pig. Thinking it a bad idea to waste pork, the wolf ate the pig and decided to try another neighbor. And so it went until he got to the brick house and was shortly, thereafter, arrested. And all for the want of a cup of sugar.”
According to 100 Best Books for Children, Jon and Lane sort of did the thing you’re told not to do when creating a picture book. Under normal circumstances you’re supposed to come in with your portfolio (if you’re an artist) or you text (if you’re an author) and the publisher pairs you up with somebody. In this particular case, Smith and Scieszka met in a zoo (please hold all appropriate comments until I finish) and when Lane went in to show his portfolio to editor Regina Hayes he showed her Smith’s manuscript as well. Batta bing, batta boom, instant fame, glory, and rocket ships to the moon. As Scieszka himself said of the book in a Puffin interview, “Our first book, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs sold thirty bazillion copies in eight languages.” Sounds ’bout right.
Fun Fact: The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature gets the title of this book wrong. No, really! It does. Check out page 875. Granted it’s just the small goof of calling this The Story of the Three Little Pigs rather than The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, but I think the inclusion of the “True” in the title is necessary. Nay! Imperative. They almost make up for the gaff by finishing his bio by saying, “critics have called Scieszka’s work ‘postmodern’ Children call it funny.” Good save, Norton me pal. We’ll let you off the hook this time.
- Strangely enough you can read the full text here, if you’ve half a mind to. Sans pictures, though.
- Thinking about it, I saw Scieszka talk about this book briefly in a recent B&N video. In it he says: “I get a lot of mail from Kindergartners. Actually a lot of it addressed to A. Wolf saying, ‘Dear Mr. Wolf. You were bad. You should be in jail.’ Which I t
Today’s guest blogger is Laura Geringer, beloved children’s book author and one of First Book’s favorite people.
First Book goes to Broadway! It’s gratifying to announce the highly successful completion of the first stage of First Book’s partnership with the Kaufman Center. The collaboration gave rise this summer to a pilot program of seven colorful and comical musicals for children, all based on children’s books available from First Book’s online Marketplace store.
In the lineup were “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka, “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes, “Kenny and the Dragon” by Tony DiTerlizzi, and my own “A Three Hat Day“.
The show was called “Cover to Cover”, and was a tribute to the power of storytelling in our lives. It was tremendously moving to me as over a hundred children sang the lyrics to the closing song:
There will always be a new book to discover
And the books I love
will always be
A part of me …
Through this new partnership with The Kaufman Center, First Book makes its theatrical debut on stage, bringing books into the lives of children in need through story and song.
photo by gamene www.flickr.com
*Picture book (based on fairy tales) for preschoolers to first graders
*Big Bad Little Good Wolf as main character
*Rating: Good Little Wolf has few words, but the illustrations tell us all about this little wolf! Very cute.
Short, short summary:
The Big Bad Wolf is here to tell you, the reader, that he is actually a Good Little Wolf. He explains that he keeps his friends cozy in the winter, that he is very helpful and provides a place (in his mouth) for his friends to stay dry when it rains, and that he only likes to dress up like Little Red Riding Hood to help tell bedtime stories to his friends. In the spirit of
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith,
Good Little Wolf by Kristina Andres lets us know the wolf’s true character.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. If you are reading this book to a classroom of children, then do a K-W-L chart with them about the Big Bad Wolf or wolves in fairy tales. What do they know about the Big Bad Wolf? What do they wonder? After reading Good Little Wolf, what do they learn about this storybook character? If you are at home reading this book, discuss what your child believes about the Big Bad Wolf before reading the book together.
2. In this book, the illustrations tell the WHOLE story. Children can learn from reading the Good Little Wolf that in picture books, the illustrations are as important as the text. The text and illustrations work together to tell a story. They can also learn that if they are having trouble reading a page, the illustrations might give them a clue as to what the text says. Sometimes, we assume that children already know that they need to carefully look at illustrations and the importance of the pictures, but this is often not true unless we draw their attention to it.
3. On a T-chart, ask students to put their opinion of the wolf–do they think he is a Good Little Wolf or a Big Bad Wolf? To make this an interactive activity, give students a post-it note, ask them to write their name on it, and then put it on the chart under their opinion. When all children have voted, discuss the chart and why students believe what they do about the wolf. If you are reading this book at home, you can discuss with your child after reading this book (and maybe The True Story of the Three Little Pigs too) about what she thinks about the wolf. Ask your child to defend her opinion with specific events from the books.
Okay, so I have to ask–what do you think about the Big Bad Wolf? Is he just misunderstood?
#35 The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (1989)
