The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

1. Title: The Three Pigs

2. Author and Illustrator: David Wiesner

3. Genre: Fantasy

4. Honors/Awards: The Caldecott Medal

5. Publisher: Clarion Books

6. Copyright: 2001

7. Grade Level: K-2nd

8. Basic Overview: The setting occurs within many different children’s nursery rhymes. The main characters are the three pigs who are made alive by leaving their original story and escaping into another, causing more characters to come to life (such as a dragon and the cat with the fiddle). These pigs help save the dragon, are thankful for their new found friends and welcome them to their home in the original story. There is conflict between characters in the story: the wolf and the pigs, the dragon and the knight. The plot begins with the normal story of The Three Little Pigs, but reaches the rising action once the pigs realize they can leave the story. The climax is hit when the cat finds the original story with the brick house, moving to the falling action of getting rid of the wolf with the dragon, and resulting to a soup party. Lastly, the theme that struck me the most was “finding a different way out of situations.”

9. What makes it quality literature?: This book is a piece of quality literature because of the beautiful and fun illustrations. Children will really get into this book. It is a high fantasy book because of the total “other world” the pigs find within the nursery rhymes. It covers these qualities: expands awareness by putting children in another perspective, doesn’t overly teach or moralize, words have a poetic feel to them, has integrity (makes a satisfying whole), and lastly, shows originality.

10. English Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) Oriented?: This is great for ESOL children because it does not hold stereotypes, for it is all about animals in nursery rhymes, and it has extremely vibrant pictures which the students use to follow the story. It also introduces nursery rhymes they may not have heard before, but will eventually.

11. How it can be used in the classroom: A good unit this book would be good for would be a comparing and contrasting of mixed up nursery rhymes. This could be a specific lesson on Three Little Pig stories while another portion of the unit could have a lesson on Cinderella stories. It is useful for letting children see the creative idea of each different author’s style for writing. This book fits very well into a unit on comparison and contrast.

12. How parents can use this book: Use this book to get your child interested in reading. It is full of fun- loving action and a basic love for fun. Take time to re-enact the story, letting you child choose the character they want to be. Use the book as your script as you perform the play of The Three Pigs. Your child is sure to enjoy this book and find a joy in reading. Most of all, fantasy is a genre of books most children find very enjoyable. Three Little Pigs can be springboard to finding your child’s niche in genres for reading.

13. Accessibility: Easy – Can be found at any library or local book store. Purchase now at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+three+pigs+by+david+wiesner&sprefix=The+Three+Pigs .

Kiddie L. Critic