The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. ISB 0-618-00701-6


2. PLOT SUMMARY

The story begins traditionally with "Once upon a time" and a wolf looking down on the pigs building a house of straw. As the wolf blows down the straw house, one pig is blown out of the story. As the suddenly textured pig looks at his own story, the narration continues without the wolf being able to eat the pig. The text of the story continues as if the pig had never left. The wolf looks at an empty house confused as the words say, "and ate the pig." The second pig escapes with the first pig before the wolf can blow down the house built of sticks. The third pig escapes and the three pigs begin to push away the traditional pages of the story away. The pigs are able to walk on top of the book and fold up the pages to make a paper plane. The pigs are able to go on a grand adventure while flying across the empty pages of the book. As one pig looks out to the reader, the other finds another traditional fairy tale rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle. The pigs find a black and white fantasy story and rescue a dragon from having to fight a knight in shining armor. Their new found friends join them in looking at the many different stories. With a new plan, the pigs begin to put their story back in place. Instead of the wolves blowing down the door of the brick house, he is met with a large green fire breathing dragon. The story ends with everyone living happily ever after.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The characters of the book begin in a world of traditional hand-drawn artwork. The colors are muted and simple. When the straw pig is blown out of the story, there is much more detail. Instead of a flat tone, the pig is morphed into a creature that looks almost 3-D with soft white hair. The use of dark shadows makes he pig look above the other stories. The wolf's confusion is comical. The humor changes the mood of the story by making less about a villain and more about an adventure. For those with a sharp eye, the curious, orange cat with the fiddle can be seen sneaking out of his story to follow the three pigs. The pigs meet another villain, the dragon. While the wolf is only stripped of his power, the dragon is shown to never have been evil to begin with. There is a freedom away from the original story. The creatures are free from the death of their stories and are able to live happily ever after. The pigs break the fourth wall by acknowledging that they possibly see someone looking at them through the pages. There is a sense of excitement to be part of the action of the story. There are many different illustration styles to match the different traditional stories. The Hey Diddle Diddle artwork is bright and playful with familiar images of the cow jumping over the moon. The medieval tale is stark, like a black and white comic strip. The dragon becomes a multi scaled green once escaping with a new future. Although the original tale ends with low celebration happy ending with only the brick wolf surviving, the new tale allows for a happy ending that will leave children with a feeling of security.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

2002 Caldecott Medal Winner

Top 100 Picture Books #68 according to School Library Journal

Joanna Rudge Long from Book Horn: "Wiesner’s marvelously comical an just plain beautiful book demonstrates how far a good old story can take an artist inspired by its essential spirit."

Kyle Wheeler: "So meta. It blew my mind the first time I read it, and continues to do so."

Melissa Fox: "I love Weisner’s books, but out of them all, this is my favorite. I love the meta-ness of it, and I never get tired of reading the story aloud (even if I know how it ends)."

Aaron Zenz: "I love metafiction, and this book is perhaps – perhaps – the only example to surpass Grover’s classic Monster at the End of this Book. Leave it to David Wiesner..."

From New York Times: "Wiesner’s dialogue and illustrations are clever, whimsical and sophisticated."

From Publisher's Weekly: "Brilliant use of white space and perspective evokes a feeling that the characters can navigate endless possibilities–and that the range of story itself is limitless."

5. CONNECTIONS

Other 2002 Caldecott Medal Honor Awards:
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Brian Selznick ISB: 9704391494
Martin's Big Words: the Life of Dr. Martin Luter King, Jr. by Bryan Collier ISB: 9781423106357
The Stray Dog by Marc Simont ISB: 978067891017

Other Books by David Wiesner:
Hurricane ISB: 9780395629741
Tuesday  ISB: 9780780424524
Sector 7 ISB: 970395746561
Flotsam ISB: 9781448187850
Art & Max ISB: 97806185636

Lesson Plans:

www.Vickiblackwell.com offers an extensive page dedicated to The Three Pigs. It contains a PDF file for an art project, worksheets for analysis, sing alongs, activity cards, and more. I could not even begin to list all of the resources available on this page. Find it here: The Three Pigs

Zoe Ryder White offers some great ideas for using many of Wiesner's books in the classroom. The file is printable. Find them here: Ideas for Classroom Uses

Teaching Books has a great resource for using The Three Pigs for a discussion activity. It also contains ideas for Wiesner's June 29,1999, Tuesday, and Sector 7. Check it out here: Discussion and Activity Guide