The Three Little Pigs- Picture Book 4

The Three Little Pigs

 

By: David Wiesner

Genre: Picture Book

Award: Won Caldecott Medal in 2002

Grade Level: The appropriate grade level for this book is 2nd grade, because students at this grade level are at the age where animal fantasy is at its peak. By 2nd grade students have gathered enough background knowledge about folk tales, and the usual elements of these stories. They can appreciate the unique outlook of this story and find the humor in it.

Summary: The Three Little Pigs by David Wiesner is a fractured fairy tale about the three pigs escaping from the actual story. The story starts out with the wolf character blowing down the straw house of the first pig, and blowing him right out of the story. The three pigs learn how to leave the story, and continue to travel through various fairy tales such as Hey Diddle Diddle and rescue the creatures in those stories. The book ends with the creatures back in the Three Little Pig's story, where they 'live happily ever after.' Throughout the book David Wiesner makes great use of white space and a mixture of artistic styles to emphasize different stories. Especially notable is the texture Wiesner uses with the creatures throughout the story, because it emphasizes the reality of the animals leaving their story.

Classroom Strategies:
In the story the pigs travel through Hey Diddle Diddle, and another fairy tale about a dragon. Encourage students to expand on the story by creating a story line of the pigs traveling through another fairy tale of their choice. Have the students identify what character the pigs would save, why, and how the new character would shape the book. Through completing this activity, students become involved in the brainstorming process of creating elements in a book. They can show their understanding of the book as well as additional fairy tales.
Read an original version of The Three Little Pigs to the class and have the students complete a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two stories. Through using this graphic organizer students can visually note and understand the differences of the stories and how they relate to one another. Through completing this activity students can understand the elements of a fractured fairy tale and understand the humor involved in this book.

ESOL:
For the second activity the Venn Diagram graphic organizer is utilized to show similarities and differences between David Wiesner's The Three Little Pigs and an original version of the story. This activity is appropriate for ESOL students because the use of a Venn Diagram allows the to visually compare and contrast the two stories in an organized way.
Additionally, the first activity allows students to brainstorm new additions to the story by inserting their own twist which is also beneficial for ESOL students.

Read Aloud: The first five pages of Wiesner's book should be read aloud to the class in order for them to gain an insight to the book. These five pages also include the majority of the text in the book, and introduces the story, its flow, and the some characters. It illustrates that this story of the three little pigs will be immensely different from other versions and allows for building interest on what will happen in the story.

Personal Opinion: I felt that this version of The Three Little Pigs was the most entertaining one I have read. It was unpredictable, humorous, and easily understandable for most audiences. The variety of illustrations add a realistic element to the book, and visually portray the journey the pigs take through the different stories. As with most books by David Wiesner, I loved the freshness of the plot and the unique illustrations.