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The Three Pigs: A Caldecott Award Winner
Taking visual narrative to a new level, this picture book from the creator of Tuesday and Flotsam begins a seemingly familiar tale of three pigs preparing to build houses of straw, sticks, and bricks. But when the Big Bad Wolf comes looking for a snack, he huffs and puffs the first little pig right out of the story . . . and into the realm of pure imagination! Dialogue balloons pepper a wide variety of illustration styles taking readers through a dazzling fantasy universe to the surprising and happy ending. You will never look at “The Three Little Pigs”—or artwork—the same way again!
38 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
66 people are currently reading
5231 people want to read
About the author
David Wiesner
92 books625 followersDuring David Wiesner's formative years, the last images he saw before closing his eyes at night were the books, rockets, elephant heads, clocks, and magnifying glasses that decorated the wallpaper of his room. Perhaps it was this decor which awakened his creativity and gave it the dreamlike, imaginative quality so often found in his work.
As a child growing up in suburban New Jersey, Wiesner re-created his world daily in his imagination. His home and his neighborhood became anything from a faraway planet to a prehistoric jungle. When the everyday play stopped, he would follow his imaginary playmates into the pages of books, wandering among dinosaurs in the World Book Encyclopedia. The images before him generated a love of detail, an admiration for the creative process, and a curiosity about the hand behind the drawings.
In time, the young Wiesner began exploring the history of art, delving into the Renaissance at first — Michelangelo, Dürer, and da Vinci — then moving on to such surrealists as Magritte, de Chirico, and Dalí. As he got older, he would sit, inspired by these masters, at the oak drafting table his father had found for him and would construct new worlds on paper and create wordless comic books, such as Slop the Wonder Pig, and silent movies, like his kung fu vampire film The Saga of Butchula.
Wiesner has always been intrigued by and curious about what comes before and after the captured image. His books somehow convey the sequence of thoughts leading up to and following each picture, and that quality explain why they are frequently described as cinematic.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, Wiesner was able to commit himself to the full-time study of art and to explore further his passion for wordless storytelling. There he met two people who would figure prominently in his life: Tom Sgouros, to whom Tuesday is dedicated, and David Macaulay, to whom The Three Pigs is dedicated. These two men not only taught Wiesner the fundamentals of drawing and painting but also fostered his imaginative spirit and helped him comprehend the world around him. Sgouros's and Macaulay's artistic influences were vital to Wiesner's development into the acclaimed picture-book author he is today.
David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books for young readers. Two of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992 and The Three Pigs in 2002. Two of his other titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, are Caldecott Honor Books. An exhibit of Wiesner's original artwork, "Seeing the Story," toured the United States in 2000 and 2001. Among his many honors, Wiesner holds the Japan Picture Book Award for Tuesday, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) for The Three Pigs, and a 2004 IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration, also for The Three Pigs. Flotsam, his most recent work, was a New York Times bestseller and was recently named winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal, making Wiesner only the second person in the award’s long history to have won three times.
Wiesner lives with his wife and their son and daughter in the Philadelphia area, where he continues to create dreamlike and inventive images for books.
As a child growing up in suburban New Jersey, Wiesner re-created his world daily in his imagination. His home and his neighborhood became anything from a faraway planet to a prehistoric jungle. When the everyday play stopped, he would follow his imaginary playmates into the pages of books, wandering among dinosaurs in the World Book Encyclopedia. The images before him generated a love of detail, an admiration for the creative process, and a curiosity about the hand behind the drawings.
In time, the young Wiesner began exploring the history of art, delving into the Renaissance at first — Michelangelo, Dürer, and da Vinci — then moving on to such surrealists as Magritte, de Chirico, and Dalí. As he got older, he would sit, inspired by these masters, at the oak drafting table his father had found for him and would construct new worlds on paper and create wordless comic books, such as Slop the Wonder Pig, and silent movies, like his kung fu vampire film The Saga of Butchula.
Wiesner has always been intrigued by and curious about what comes before and after the captured image. His books somehow convey the sequence of thoughts leading up to and following each picture, and that quality explain why they are frequently described as cinematic.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, Wiesner was able to commit himself to the full-time study of art and to explore further his passion for wordless storytelling. There he met two people who would figure prominently in his life: Tom Sgouros, to whom Tuesday is dedicated, and David Macaulay, to whom The Three Pigs is dedicated. These two men not only taught Wiesner the fundamentals of drawing and painting but also fostered his imaginative spirit and helped him comprehend the world around him. Sgouros's and Macaulay's artistic influences were vital to Wiesner's development into the acclaimed picture-book author he is today.
David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books for young readers. Two of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992 and The Three Pigs in 2002. Two of his other titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, are Caldecott Honor Books. An exhibit of Wiesner's original artwork, "Seeing the Story," toured the United States in 2000 and 2001. Among his many honors, Wiesner holds the Japan Picture Book Award for Tuesday, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) for The Three Pigs, and a 2004 IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration, also for The Three Pigs. Flotsam, his most recent work, was a New York Times bestseller and was recently named winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal, making Wiesner only the second person in the award’s long history to have won three times.
Wiesner lives with his wife and their son and daughter in the Philadelphia area, where he continues to create dreamlike and inventive images for books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,485 reviews
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February 14, 2021[Book #16 for my grad school Children's Lit class]
May 12, 2018
Wow! Fantastic book! Last night we read the Stinky Cheese Man and other stupid tales and it was trying to turn fairy tales on their head and it was different, but not great the way this book was. This is how you turn a story on its head.
The art is fantastic and fairly easy to understand what is going on. This is the story of taking your own fate into your hands. Stepping back from the story we are stuck in and finding a new way forward. I mean this little work is a work of brilliance in my opinion. Being the fate of your own story. The kids know the story of the 3 little pigs and so they knew that the story had changed. I also think this is a fantastic story for adults to read and absorb the meaning. One level is pure fun and fluff and another level is telling us to stop living the same inner stories we tell ourselves and find a new better way after examining our lives.
David Wiesner is put on my list for this. It's fantastic.
The art is fantastic and fairly easy to understand what is going on. This is the story of taking your own fate into your hands. Stepping back from the story we are stuck in and finding a new way forward. I mean this little work is a work of brilliance in my opinion. Being the fate of your own story. The kids know the story of the 3 little pigs and so they knew that the story had changed. I also think this is a fantastic story for adults to read and absorb the meaning. One level is pure fun and fluff and another level is telling us to stop living the same inner stories we tell ourselves and find a new better way after examining our lives.
David Wiesner is put on my list for this. It's fantastic.
July 25, 2018
An inventive picture book that reminds me just a bit of The True Story of The Big Bad Wolf by Jon Scieska and Lane Smith, in that it assumes you know the traditional tale and then departs from it. In Wiesner's version we begin with the conventional story with a kind of retro illustration style, then one pig gets blown into an alternative universe where the pages of the original story appear on the page in a kind of meta-fictional way. The pigs escape in this reinvention.
I have five Wiesner books in front of me, in part because I have a big book to read about the wordless storytelling he may be best known for, and I would say that the reinvented part would have been better served by no words. But the artwork here (2001) is a leap forward in his work from Free Fall (1988) and Hurricane (1990). Visually and narratively edgier stuff.
I have five Wiesner books in front of me, in part because I have a big book to read about the wordless storytelling he may be best known for, and I would say that the reinvented part would have been better served by no words. But the artwork here (2001) is a leap forward in his work from Free Fall (1988) and Hurricane (1990). Visually and narratively edgier stuff.
May 18, 2021
This was so cute!! Nice pictures and creative storytelling. It starts out with the traditional 3 Little Pigs and the wolf comes out to huff and puff but then the story takes a wild turn. The pigs start getting lost in other stories and bring the characters with them. The Wolf gets defeated but the pigs get a typewriter to rewrite their story with the help of a dragon.
We thought it was funny. Enjoyable twist
We thought it was funny. Enjoyable twist
May 16, 2023
David Wiesner's The Three Pigs is very much fun and in many ways appears as simply and utterly brilliant (I just so much love the both sly and in your face cultural and literary intertextuality and that the three pigs basically manage to escape from their adversary, the eponymous big bad wolf, by means of meta-fiction, by being blown right out of their story into other tales, and different types of accompanying illustrations). But all that being said, and even though I know that this is basically a loose retelling of the traditional The Three Little Pigs type of folktale, I do happen to feel rather sorry for the poor wolf, who is not really evil, but simply a carnivore hunting for food, hunting for a meal (and this salient fact is also the main and probably even the only reason why The Three Pigs is rated with four and not five stars, a personal pet peeve perhaps and even a bit pernickety, but I stand by and with my feelings here, as big bad wolf type of tales have always left me uncomfortable and with sadness for the wolves).
Like always, and yes, like usual, David Wiesner's illustrations are simply spectacular, whimsical, descriptive, and I especially appreciate the many visual allusions to some of the author/illustrator's previous picture book offerings (the featured dragon is definitely reminiscent of the dragon found in Wiesner's Free Fall and there are also allusions to Tuesday, but interestingly enough, this time, there are flying fish and not flying frogs presented). Very highly recommended, and one can easily and with considerable appreciation understand why and how David Wiesner has won so many Caldecott accolades (and for me personally, Wiesner's The Three Pigs is actually also much much more lastingly appealing than the majority of his wordless picture book offerings, as I do seem to have constant and recurring issues easily understanding and appreciating illustrations sans any type of written narrative, sans printed text).
Like always, and yes, like usual, David Wiesner's illustrations are simply spectacular, whimsical, descriptive, and I especially appreciate the many visual allusions to some of the author/illustrator's previous picture book offerings (the featured dragon is definitely reminiscent of the dragon found in Wiesner's Free Fall and there are also allusions to Tuesday, but interestingly enough, this time, there are flying fish and not flying frogs presented). Very highly recommended, and one can easily and with considerable appreciation understand why and how David Wiesner has won so many Caldecott accolades (and for me personally, Wiesner's The Three Pigs is actually also much much more lastingly appealing than the majority of his wordless picture book offerings, as I do seem to have constant and recurring issues easily understanding and appreciating illustrations sans any type of written narrative, sans printed text).
March 21, 2017
The Three Pigs by David Weisner is a cute story that starts out like the traditional Three Pigs story, but then unexpectedly changes into something much different. The pigs are able to jump in and out of other fairy tales. It's such a unique twist on the original.
The illustrations are cute, detailed, and the story has a great ending. We really enjoyed it.
4****
The illustrations are cute, detailed, and the story has a great ending. We really enjoyed it.
4****
July 4, 2010
This was my sixth Wiesner book and given that I assigned 5 stars to 4 and 3 stars to 1 of the previous five books, I guess I can say that this isn’t one of my favorite books by him.
As I was reading, I missed the originality of his other books. Yes, this is a humorous and vastly changed version of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale. I liked it but wasn’t that impressed until I got to the last several pages and then I decided that I did really like this. It’s a very creative and imaginative way to rewrite the story, and it’s fun to read, although I think it will be most enjoyed by people who know all the tales that end up populating this book. Otherwise, the humor isn’t likely to seem all that funny.
The illustrations were all terrific, especially the one where there’s a wonder wall with a mural with waves and fish and other things painted on it and a pig is going from that page onto another, and all the ones where book pages become playthings, and the expressions on all the animals’ faces on almost every page. The pictures in this book are not Wiesner’s best work though, in my opinion.
Any adult, and some children, will guess the twist ending; it is cute. I’ve liked a few other twisted/fractured fairy tales, though generally they’re not my favorite books to read. However, this one eventually won me over.
I would like to read all this author-illustrator’s picture books. So, I’ll see what I’ve missed and I’ll try to remember to keep track of him and occasionally check for any new books.
As I was reading, I missed the originality of his other books. Yes, this is a humorous and vastly changed version of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale. I liked it but wasn’t that impressed until I got to the last several pages and then I decided that I did really like this. It’s a very creative and imaginative way to rewrite the story, and it’s fun to read, although I think it will be most enjoyed by people who know all the tales that end up populating this book. Otherwise, the humor isn’t likely to seem all that funny.
The illustrations were all terrific, especially the one where there’s a wonder wall with a mural with waves and fish and other things painted on it and a pig is going from that page onto another, and all the ones where book pages become playthings, and the expressions on all the animals’ faces on almost every page. The pictures in this book are not Wiesner’s best work though, in my opinion.
Any adult, and some children, will guess the twist ending; it is cute. I’ve liked a few other twisted/fractured fairy tales, though generally they’re not my favorite books to read. However, this one eventually won me over.
I would like to read all this author-illustrator’s picture books. So, I’ll see what I’ve missed and I’ll try to remember to keep track of him and occasionally check for any new books.
October 9, 2013
“The Three Pigs” is a children’s book written by David Wiesner, author of the famous book “Tuesday.” “The Three Pigs” is about how the three pigs basically come out of the story and their adventures in the real world. This book is the winner of the Caldecott Medal and is surely to send kids rolling over with laughter.
David Wiesner’s writing is smart and creative, but it is his illustrations that take center stage here. At first, the three pigs are drawn in regular two-dimensional storybook characters, but when the first pig gets blown out of the story, he is suddenly a three-dimensional and realistic looking character indicating that the pig has broken the line between fantasy, which is the story he was in and reality, where he is blown out of the page. This goes on throughout most of the book where the cat playing the fiddle and the dragon turn three-dimensional also when they came out of their stories until the end of the book where all the characters are two-dimensional again when they come back to the three pigs’ story. My favorite image in this book would have to be when the first pig is looking straight at the audience and exclaims:
“I think… someone’s out there.”
And you could see his face close up and he is squinting at the audience to see who is out there which indicates that he knows that the audience is watching, which is something that most illustrated characters do not notice while they are in a story. David Wiesner’s writing is creative, especially when the book starts out with the story of the three pigs and then once the first pig is blown out of the page, the writing takes form of a comic book as the characters are speaking through the bubbles you would normally see in comic books.
“The Three Pigs” is a wonderfully surreal story from the creative mind of David Wiesner and is certainly a story that will stand out from the rest of the fractured fairy tales other than “The Stinky Cheese Man.” I would recommend this book for children ages five and up since children younger than five would not understand the complicated plot.
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
January 8, 2018
Wiesner's alternative take on the traditional fairy tale of 'The Three Little Pigs' is incredibly entertaining. The relationship between the illustrations and written word on the page is extremely unique and would allow for a wonderful discussion with children about how stories can be represented. As a teacher, it could be used to model the traditional ways of storytelling and alternative ways, which the children prefer, why it might be different and would allow children the opportunity to explore their own ideas helping them flourish as writers.
January 8, 2017
Shame on me for never reading this before! I suppose I may not have appreciated it when my kids were small, because it doesn't really work as a sharing or read-aloud book. But for what it is, it's wonderful. And pioneering, I believe.
I love the use of white space. I love the self-promotional gallery walls showing scenes from Wiesner's other books. I love the dragon. But... I do feel sorry for the wolf.
I love the use of white space. I love the self-promotional gallery walls showing scenes from Wiesner's other books. I love the dragon. But... I do feel sorry for the wolf.
July 28, 2009
In this highly imaginate and artistic twist on the Three Little Pigs, the pigs flee the wolf and escape off the edge of the illustrations into other stories.
I thought this book was awesome, but the little kids I read it to (ages 3-4) didn't really get the concept.
I thought this book was awesome, but the little kids I read it to (ages 3-4) didn't really get the concept.
April 15, 2019
I'm not the biggest fan of this riff on the old tale but the kid absolutely loved it and I will say it was unique.
October 1, 2008
2002 Caldecott Medal. Ummmm. What the!?! The art is coolish, but the lame story (or lack of story)...Are you kidding me? This reminds me of one of those Saturday Night Live skits where you sit there puzzled while those who created it are high-fiving themselves and chuckling.
February 9, 2025
Wiesner is amazing, and this is my favorite. The hyper-realism, the three-Dimensionality, makes the text so much more meaningful. Both kids have always loved these, and we none of us show any signs of getting tired of his work.
May 28, 2017
What the heck? WHAT THE HECK! Oh, my goodness.
I WILL NOT WEAR CLOTHES UNTIL YOU READ IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WILL NOT WEAR CLOTHES UNTIL YOU READ IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 1, 2015
This is definitely a fresh viewpoint on the story of the classical 'Three Little Pigs'. What makes this book unique is the deconstruction of the plot, and the bravery of pigs who decided to take matters into their own hands.
I really like the idea of pigs flying away on the paper airplane made of the pages of their own story. In this way they outwitted the wolf, who needed to put more effort in finding them. The double spread white pages with pigs sitting on the airplane give the impression of freedom - they can fly wherever they want to. Subsequently, the wolf's chase after the pigs through different deconstructed pages arranged in a nonstandard way is something I have never seen in any other books that I had read before.
I also liked the happy ending of the story - when the pigs along with the dragon frightened the wolf away.
Lastly, I really like the fact that every, even very well-known story, can obtain a new life in a way that the readers would have never expected. I definitely recommend 'The Three Pigs' by Wiesner!
I really like the idea of pigs flying away on the paper airplane made of the pages of their own story. In this way they outwitted the wolf, who needed to put more effort in finding them. The double spread white pages with pigs sitting on the airplane give the impression of freedom - they can fly wherever they want to. Subsequently, the wolf's chase after the pigs through different deconstructed pages arranged in a nonstandard way is something I have never seen in any other books that I had read before.
I also liked the happy ending of the story - when the pigs along with the dragon frightened the wolf away.
Lastly, I really like the fact that every, even very well-known story, can obtain a new life in a way that the readers would have never expected. I definitely recommend 'The Three Pigs' by Wiesner!
October 6, 2010
The Three Pigs is a twist on the longtime childhood story, The Three Little Pigs. I admit, I expected the book to be a similar version of the tale that I remember hearing as a child. This story completely took me by surprise when the wolf “…huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house in…and ate the pig up.” Soon after, the pigs were wandering around on the page, separate from the framed illustrations. Before I knew it, the pigs were flying on a paper airplane they made from the pages of the original story! The illustrations are well-deserving of a Caldecott Medal. The lines are thin with extreme detail right down to the pigs’ hair. Colors are vivid as they make the illustrations come to life. The reader is engaged throughout the whole book, while reading the pigs’ dialogue bubbles as they make their way through the torn out pages of the original book. This is a must-read for students of any age! A read aloud is a great way to introduce this to younger readers. Perhaps reading the original Three Little Pigs will help students to compare the two stories. One drawback of reading this with younger readers (K-1) is that the students may not have been exposed to the original story enough to gain a sense of the humor and unexpectedness of this book. Older readers will benefit from the unique arrangement of the text and how the illustrations show the pages of the old story as the pigs take it over and make it their own. The benefits of reading this book with older students (grades 3 and up) are that it allows students to visualize a twist on an old story; after reading the story, the students could create their own twist while weaving the story elements of the old story into their new one. This book could be part of a unit on fairy tales where the students describe the story elements and then are asked to change some of the story to show another character’s perspective. An exciting and unexpected storyline and is one students will appreciate!
November 20, 2017
I was very reserved to engage with this book to begin with - wouldn't have chosen to read it if I wasn't made to! But so glad I did; it has changed my entire view on picturebooks as I have experienced how the pictures can tell a different story to the text. I love the alternative world of the pigs stepping out of the story and changing things.
{Session notes whilst reading:}
Front cover image:
-different coloured eyes, different skin colours
-direct eye contact and smiles - creepy, makes you feel uncomfortable
-ultra realistic
The Three Pigs - changed from 'Three Little Pigs', altered traditional familiar story
Post-modernism, challenging tradition and assumptions.
We start the story sat with the wolf.
Pig breaks out of the frame, realistic outside the frame - no longer bound by the confines of the original story.
Frames tilted, physical objects which can be moved around. Playing around with the story format.
White space makes 3D and depth.
Direct addressing the reader - distraction from action in the background.
Rules change with new frame - different genre.
Pigs and cat leaving the picture frame.
Saving the dragon - breaking the stereotypes.
In order to get back they have to put the frames back together. Can control the narrative.
Intertextuality: implied reader needs knowledge of 3 Little Pigs, Dish and The Spoon (Hey Diddle Diddle, dragon character stereotypes.
{Session notes whilst reading:}
Front cover image:
-different coloured eyes, different skin colours
-direct eye contact and smiles - creepy, makes you feel uncomfortable
-ultra realistic
The Three Pigs - changed from 'Three Little Pigs', altered traditional familiar story
Post-modernism, challenging tradition and assumptions.
We start the story sat with the wolf.
Pig breaks out of the frame, realistic outside the frame - no longer bound by the confines of the original story.
Frames tilted, physical objects which can be moved around. Playing around with the story format.
White space makes 3D and depth.
Direct addressing the reader - distraction from action in the background.
Rules change with new frame - different genre.
Pigs and cat leaving the picture frame.
Saving the dragon - breaking the stereotypes.
In order to get back they have to put the frames back together. Can control the narrative.
Intertextuality: implied reader needs knowledge of 3 Little Pigs, Dish and The Spoon (Hey Diddle Diddle, dragon character stereotypes.
August 2, 2012
Wiesner’s postmodern picturebook is a metafictive reimagining of the classic fairytale which employs water color, gouache, colored inks, pencil, and colored pencil on Fabriano hot press paper to raucously depict the three little pigs in a cartoon style while they remain in their own story. However, in the course of eluding the big bad wolf’s attacks they manage to not only survive but also break the frames of their own story, explore its gutters, and break into the frames that encase the stories of other fables. As the pigs tromp from tale to tale they collect new friends and find themselves rendered in varying styles of illustration running the gamut from highly representational to nigh realistic; moreover, they are quite photorealistic in their existence in the gutters outside the frames, in “the real world.” Suddenly remembering the truth of Dorothy Gale’s words, they decide to return home and—much to the dismay of the big bad wolf—take their new friends with them. Although young children will adore the pigs’ violations of the implicit rules of storytelling, Wiesner’s wit is ideal for introducing irony to high school students. This text couples beautifully with the concepts of Saturnalia and the inversion social mores such as the donkey’s eulogy in Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.
February 7, 2017
The book, The Three Pigs, begins as the classic tale we all have grown to know with three Pigs that set off to build houses of their own. The first Pig made his house of straw, and the next Pig made his house sticks, and the last Pig made his house of brick. The Wolf came and blew the straw house down and ate the pig, then he blew the stick house down and ate the pig. Just when you think you know what’s going to happen next the story takes a surprising turn. The Pigs leave the story! They find themselves on an adventure into other classic tales. The illustrations bring the plot of the story to life. The illustrations almost look three dimensional when the pigs leave the pages of their tale and stumble upon the pages of other tales. The illustrator’s style is postmodernism which is mixed styles, unlike the traditional style. I love how the text and illustrations change with each tale. Many pages are just illustrations with little to no words. The detailed illustrations tell the story of a classic tale with a twist.
February 8, 2017
We just love David Wiesner's books and though this one actually has some words, it still has the same crazy, mind-blowing illustrations we've come to expect from his wordless books.
It's a fun take on the well-told tale of "The Three Little Pigs." We really enjoyed reading this book together and I think it was certainly worthy of it's Caldecott Medal.
This book was selected as one of the books for the January 2017- Caldecott Medal Winners 1998-2002 discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
It's a fun take on the well-told tale of "The Three Little Pigs." We really enjoyed reading this book together and I think it was certainly worthy of it's Caldecott Medal.
This book was selected as one of the books for the January 2017- Caldecott Medal Winners 1998-2002 discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
October 29, 2017
On the front cover of this Caldecott winner, the suggestions are made that the story of the Three Little Pigs is told over and over, but always with the same outcomes. And then the questions are asked, who's in charge of the story, who gets to decide what happens, and has anyone asked the pigs? And so the author proceeds to give us a story that might portray just what the pigs would want to see happen. This delightful story is creative, and the illustrations are wonderful. I especially liked the line "O brave and noble swine".
I am tentatively using this for the group read challenge in A Book for All Seasons, Topic #5, a Spoof on a Classic. That is unless I am told it doesn't qualify as a classic, but I ask you, what could be more a classic than "The Three LIttle Pigs"?
I am tentatively using this for the group read challenge in A Book for All Seasons, Topic #5, a Spoof on a Classic. That is unless I am told it doesn't qualify as a classic, but I ask you, what could be more a classic than "The Three LIttle Pigs"?
January 20, 2021
2002 Caldecott
Highly detailed illustration. 5* I like the twist of bringing in other fairy tale characters. But it all gets a bit weird. Wolf "ate the pig up" but the pig is sneaking out of the 2-dimensional book into a 3rd dimension to get away. The pigs flying on a paper airplane enters the 4th dimension of time, and enter a land of other fairy tales and a dragon.
Illustrations turned multi-directions yield pictures only advanced middle school through adult might really appreciate. Definitely kids in the 5th dimension will think deeply about this book.
Highly detailed illustration. 5* I like the twist of bringing in other fairy tale characters. But it all gets a bit weird. Wolf "ate the pig up" but the pig is sneaking out of the 2-dimensional book into a 3rd dimension to get away. The pigs flying on a paper airplane enters the 4th dimension of time, and enter a land of other fairy tales and a dragon.
Illustrations turned multi-directions yield pictures only advanced middle school through adult might really appreciate. Definitely kids in the 5th dimension will think deeply about this book.
November 13, 2017
Post modern book which challenges the idea of the traditional three little pigs. Really interesting to look at with children in relation to picture book codes as the little pigs take the story apart including the picture frames and then reconstruct it to suit them. They even take away the words and reconstruc them to create an ending which they want.
Really interesting and would create a good discussion with children.
Really interesting and would create a good discussion with children.
September 27, 2017
This book is impossible to read out loud, as the text doesn't go from left to right or in a linear timeline. It would be much more suited to guided reading, especially if each child has their own copy. Perhaps stop after each page and talk. It requires lots of intertextual thinking based on traditional tales, and relies on the storytelling tropes they use. It's incredibly inventive and fun.
April 14, 2008
Imaginative book. Difficult to read out loud~~it's not really meant for that.
February 10, 2018
The story starts out as a traditional The Three Little Pigs story, but then takes and unexpected turn. Beautiful illustrations.
Read
February 12, 2018This was so wonderfully clever! I love how the style of the art changes throughout this story. A fun take on a classic tale!
June 20, 2022
Author/illustrator David Wiesner has crafted a tale of the three little pigs like no other. And to tell you any more would ruin the story, I promise.
With such a twist, it will be easy to lose sight of the most amazing thing about Wiesner — his talent is so great that most of his picture books don’t resemble any other: The Three Pigs’ illustrations vary so much from Flotsam’s and both do not resemble Sector 7’s. Nor do they resemble Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting, which Wiesner also illustrated. As with Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations, I marvel at Wiesner’s breadth. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this fractured fairytale, but they’ll find themselves leafing through again and again to admire the magnificent pictures.
With such a twist, it will be easy to lose sight of the most amazing thing about Wiesner — his talent is so great that most of his picture books don’t resemble any other: The Three Pigs’ illustrations vary so much from Flotsam’s and both do not resemble Sector 7’s. Nor do they resemble Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting, which Wiesner also illustrated. As with Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations, I marvel at Wiesner’s breadth. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this fractured fairytale, but they’ll find themselves leafing through again and again to admire the magnificent pictures.
December 23, 2022
Perhaps I am too much grown up and too old to read picture books. The first time I read The Three Pigs, David Wiesner's retelling of the story, I did not get it at all. At all!
Since he won a Caldecott Medal for it in 2002, I gave it another try. What I had overlooked was a key word: "retelling."
On the second read I found it brilliant as a message to kids that every story, no matter how old and how often told, can be told again and changed!
What do you think?
Since he won a Caldecott Medal for it in 2002, I gave it another try. What I had overlooked was a key word: "retelling."
On the second read I found it brilliant as a message to kids that every story, no matter how old and how often told, can be told again and changed!
What do you think?
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