The Three Little Pigs – Traditional Literature

Bibliography:
Galdone, Paul. 1970. THE THREE LITTLE PIGS. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0-395-28813-9.

Plot Summary: 

In this traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs Paul Galdone maintains the original integrity of the storyline by following a mean wolf attempting to eat three little pigs.  Each of the three little pigs has built a home of straw, sticks and bricks and the mean wolf “huffs and he puffs and at last blows the house in.”  Or at least two of the houses, one of the little pigs is able to continually outsmart the mean wolf until the wolf gets exactly what he deserves!

Critical Analysis:

Paul Galdone did a fantastic job of retelling this classic tale of The Three Little Pigs, the illustrations he created bring the story together.  The illustrations of the pigs are adorable and it captures the meanness of the wolf perfectly.  The illustrations are colorful but in soft hues, nothing overpowering, just sweet, as a classic tale should be.  This version of The Three Little Pigs is what many would considered a very traditional tale since Galdone does allow the wolf to actually eat two of the pigs, which is a little disturbing for a children’s book, and some may find this a little harsh.  There are elements within the story that do not exist in other versions such as the third little pig picking turnips, picking apples and then going to the fair.  These are all ploys the wolf has come up with to get the third little pig to leave his house so the wolf can eat him; of course this third little pig is always one step ahead of the wolf.  This adds an additional element to the story that is nice; it makes the storyline much more substantial.  The illustrations are just as fun, colorful and engaging as the story!

Review Excerpts and Awards:

"All in all, a very appealing edition of a beloved story." School Library Journal

Connections:

·         Reading this story one time through and showing the pictures and then retelling the story in the form of a felt board story would be enjoyable for a younger crowd.  Because there are three major parts to this story, the building of each house, it would allow the children to further become familiar with the story and the predictability of the blow your house down part.

·         For older children reading the story one time through and then dividing the children into groups so they can each build a portion of the story would be interesting.  Then the whole group could come together and share their portion of the story and make it whole.  This would allow the children to delve deeper into the storyline.  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/three_little_pigs.html