The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

1. Bibliography

Scieszka, Jon. 1989. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Ill. by Lane Smith.  New York, NY: Viking Penguin. ISBN 9780670827596.

            2.  Plot Summary

 In this version of “The 3 Little Pigs”, the big bad Wolf wants to make sure everyone knows his side of the story!  Alexander T. Wolf is writing from jail about how he got a bad reputation for something he did not do.  The Wolf explains that he simply needed to borrow a cup of sugar to make a cake for his granny while he had a cold.  The Wolf happened to stop by each of the pigs homes asking for a cup of sugar and had a HUGE sneeze from his cold.  After the Wolf accidentally huffs and sneezes down the first two pigs homes, he was unable to leave a dead pig in the rubble.  The police show up when the Wolf is screaming and yelling at the third wolf because he said rude things about his granny.  Because he was unable to leave the “meals” behind, when the police show up at the third pigs house to handle the situation, he looks guilty.  His argument is that it isn’t his fault the pigs built such flimsy homes!

3.  Critical Analysis

 This story is a version of “The 3 Little Pigs”  in which the big bad Wolf tells his side of the story from a first-person point of view.  In this version, the wolf is the protagonist telling a flashback of his conflicts (with a cold and the police) which lead to the demise of two of the three little pigs.  The Wolf says,  ``I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all wrong''.  This is the theme of the entire story.  

The Wolf handles plenty of complications throughout the beginning of the story including not having sugar, having a cold and accidentally sneezing down homes of innocent pigs.  As the story goes on, the Wolf reveals that each situation was a coincidence.  He only ate the first and second little pigs because he accidentally “sneezed” their homes down and could not waste a meal.  After that, the third pig was just down right rude to him.  The police happened to catch him lashing out at the third pig - another coincidence.  

Although the setting is very similar to the original story of “The 3 Little Pigs” including the mediums with which the houses were created with, the main focus is the opinion of the Wolf.  This story is a satire filled with humor that will likely be understood primarily by older children.  
The illustrations in this book are unique and different than any other version of "The 3 Little Pigs".  The fact that this is told from the Wolf's point of view is made clear through the illustrations.  They are simple and crazy!  There is humor in the pictures of animals ears' sticking out of pots and the pigs rear's sticking up in the air!  

4.  Awards & Review Excerpts

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Winner

Flicker Tale Children’s Book and ABBY Award Nominee

“In this gaily newfangled version of a classic tale, Scieszka and Smith (Flying Jake) argue in favor of the villain, transforming the story of the three little pigs into a playfully suspicious, rather arch account of innocence beleaguered.” -- Publishers Weekly

“One of life’s more important lessons is that a second view of the same events may yield a story that is entirely different from another but equally “true”. -- Kirkus Reviews

            5.  Connections

• Read The 3 Little Pigs and then this book.  Compare the story between each book and how one story can be interpreted by two different sides.   
• Play the “telephone game” where all of the students sit in a circle, start with one secret whispered in the first person’s ear, each student whispers the secret into the next person’s ear, and see what the secret is at the end of the game.  When it is completely different from the first secret, the student’s can see how different one story can vary from person to person.