The Three Little Pigs by David Wiesner

Fairy tales are special just as they are but something truly magical happens when the characters from different fairy tales mix.  This magic is captured in David Wiesner’s version of The Three Little Pigs.  The book starts out with the traditional Three Little Pigs story and then the little pigs escape these pages and end up in what appears to be the land of books.  They meet the Cat with the Fiddle from “Hey Diddle Diddle” and save a great dragon.  In the end the pigs decide to go back home and bring their new friends with them.  With these new friends, the ole’ big, bad wolf is no match for them and is quickly eliminated.  What can you say?  It’s David Wiesner, so the illustrations are phenomenal and do most of the story telling.  I love the contrast between the plain, cartoonish, and run-of-the-mill three little pigs’ story illustrations and the vibrant, realistic illustrations when the pigs escape the page.  Wiesner plays with perspective in these realistic images so at times it seems like it is actually a close-up snap shot of these pigs.  It’s awesome! 
            The first thing I would do with this book when reading it to children is ask them which set of illustrations they like better, the more cartoonish ones or the realistic ones, and talk about why they feel this way.  I hope that the discussion that springs from this will help children to start to develop a discerning eye when it comes to illustrations and art.  I think this would be an interesting book to use when teaching about the parts of plot because this story messes with the traditional plot structure.  I think it’s important that children are exposed to examples of non-traditional plots because it will help them to understand that writing allows for lots of creativity and new ideas.  The possibilities are as endless as the universe.   Lastly, this book could be used as a writing prompt for children to write their own tales about characters who find themselves in other stories.  This is an exercise I myself would love doing so I am sure older children would like doing it as well.  As always, I think it’s important to give students an alternative to writing a story, such as writing a script to be acted out or drawing the story, because some children prefer these art forms for showing what they know and can do.  I think these kinds of activities are important because they unlock children’s creative potential by giving them building blocks from which to start.
Year Published: 2001          Awards: Caldecott Winner