The Three Pigs written and Illustrated by David Wiesner

Another masterful child’s book is The Three Little Pigs. If you are looking for a traditional story, than do not choose David Wiesner’s version. He masterfully captures the story being the literal book. Each illustration take the reader further and further into a world were pigs literally jump off the pages of there own story to join someone else. At one point of the book the three little pigs take the page of their own book and construct a paper airplane then catch a ride on it. This book does exactly what all well written stories do. It sets up a certain paradigm and than changes it. Forcing the reader to grab on with both hands as Wiesner takes them on a illustrated ride they don’t often get to experience.

Not only does the story itself shy away from all clichés and common expectations (for instance the dragon about to be attacked by a knight helps the three little pigs after they take him from his book) but also the art work itself is brilliant. Each story the three little pigs make their way into causes their appearance to alter. At one point in the story the three little pigs make their way into a story about a cat and a fiddle. The story is very cartoon like and looks to be the kind one might see in a baby book with pastel colors and sweaty little faces. The pigs change from their original style of a more mature realistic color drawing to that of the cartoon. They change back into their original drawing when they leave the story. The illustrations all are riddled with detail and well thought out color patterns.

 The illustrations are not the only thing that makes this book great. This one actually has words. The text takes more of a back seat to the illustration than that of a more traditional story but that just seems to be the way Wiesner works. For instance the section where the three pigs and the dragon leave the dragon story the text says “The prince spurred his steed to the mountaintop, drew his sword and slew the mighty dragon.” The picture displayed shows a young knight off his horses scratching his head as he looks for the dragon. Which is part of the humor. Not only do the words play with the illustrations but they are well written as well. Wiesner does not use a condescending tone but uses descriptive vocabulary like in the excerpt from above “spurred” and “slew.” This helps children expand their own vocabulary. There is also a point where one of the pig’s faces are blown up on the page with a quizzical look and says, “I think… someone’s out there.” allowing the reader to experience the illusion that this is actually happening.  

I would use this book with all ages. I would love to read it as a read aloud to the entire class as well as encourage my students to read it individually. This book would be great to get students excited about reading. I could also use it to discuss points of view. How this story is written from the point of view of the three little pigs. They should write their own story using a traditional fairytale from the point of view from other characters.

Published in 2001

Winner of the 2002 Caldecott Medal