The Three Pigs

Wiesner, David
Clarion Books, 2001
Caldecott Honor
All Ages

This book is about the story of the three little pigs. There were three little pigs who all wanted to build a house one from wood, one from straw, and one of brick. A wolf came along and blew down the house with wood and sticks. The pigs got away by flying off the page into another story, where there was a dragon. The dragon came back to the brick house with the pigs and they outsmarted the wolf and ate him for dinner.

I really enjoyed reading this book because it was such a traditional tale with a twist. In the real story the pigs do not go into another story to get away from the wolf. Also the pictures are so cool they look like they have demensions. Some of the pigs look like they are coming off of the page! The pictures in this book are unlike any I have ever seen. He makes the illustrations literally look like they are coming off of the page. This is a great way to keep readers engaged and this creative method is deffinately Caldecott worthy. He gives such a great twist to the original Three Little Pigs and makes it fun. My favorite part of the story is when the pigs make a paper airplane and fly into another story to find the dragon. I thought that this was such a creative solution. David Weisner used watercolor in his illustrations and he really made the pictures pop. My favorite page is where the wolf is at the doorstep and the dragon is popping out and the pigs are by the dragons side. The wolf looks so scared and it literally looks like he is just coming off of the page.

I would use this in my classroom when talking about traditional tales. I want children to see different perspectives on the literature they are reading and this book really does that! Also you could look at the artist perspective of the story. The way he places the characters on the page really make them pop out at you. You could do an activity with kids to help teach them to illustrate their own books using this method.