The Three Little Pigs

Bibliography

Galdone, Paul. 1970. The Three Little Pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Books. ISBN 0395288134

Plot Summary

Paul Galdone designed this folktale/beast tale about a wolf who wants to eat three pigs. The first two pigs build their homes out of inferior materials, and the wolf blows them down in order to get to the pigs. The third pig learns from the mistakes of the first two, builds his home from bricks, and escapes the wolf. Unlike other three little pig tales, this book continues with a second iteration of the wolf trying to get the remaining pig. He tries three times to trick the pig into leaving the protection of the house. A fourth time he climbs in through the chimney, and the pig cooks the wolf in a big pot. Each time, the pig outsmarts the wolf by preparing in advance to evade him. 

Critical Analysis

The line-and-watercolor illustrations engagingly show the emotions of the animals in the various scenes. The illustrations also give a good sense of movement when the wolf blows down the house. The author devotes two pages to this moment. There is a sense that the pigs are in the country near a small town. 

The pigs and wolf are simple characters. There is much back-and-forth repetition between the wolf asking “Little pig, little pig, let me come in,” and the pig’s response, “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.” The wolf then repeatedly challenges, “Then I’ll huff and I‘ll puff and I’ll blow your house in.” Children will enjoy the repetition and will likely participate in this part of the story reading.

The second half of this story adds another layer to the persistent wolf in that he continues to try to get the pig out of the brick home. Due to the preparedness of the pig, the wolf never gets to eat the pig. This demonstrates the moral of the story, that preparedness and forward thinking will save the day. It also reflects the universal archetypes of good and evil. 

One criticism I have with Galdone’s extension of the story is the disappearance of the repetition found earlier. The language becomes very plain and not very picturesque. Although the wolf does ask three times for three appointments to leave the house, there is very little similarity between or within the pages of text. This would make the story less fun for children when read aloud. It also makes the book much longer for emerging readers. Personally, I would choose another version of this book to read. 

Review Excerpts

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

Kirkus review: “The text is Jacobs tightened, the drawings are jaunty rustic (with houses inventively framed in straw, sticks, bricks), the whole is more adroit and much more tasteful than Palazzo, more childlikely [sic] than the verse version of du Bois. No one will want to abandon Leslie Brooke but like Galdone's Henny Penny, this animates the tale for the widest possible audience.”

Horn Book: “Small touches — the framed illustrations of each pig building his house, the portraits of Mama and his two brothers on the third little pig’s wall, and the four-leaf clovers hidden on the dust jacket and in the end papers — help make for a balanced, sunnily attractive picture book.”

Connections

-  This story would be good for reader’s theatre. This would give students an opportunity to practice 

   storytelling. Here is a link to the script of the book:

   http://www.dcs.edu/webpages/dknox/readers_theatre_.cfm?subpage=1276200

-  Instead of the wolf being eaten, the children can make up another ending for the wolf and pig. 

-  Another option is to compare different versions of the book that have a different cultural background. 

-  Other Three Little Pig books with a Hispanic twist:

         Lowell, Susan. The Three Little Javelinas/Los Tres Pequenos Jabalies. ISBN 9780873589550

         Kimmel, Eric A. Three Little Tamales. ISBN 9780761455196