The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is a fun response to the well known story, The Three Little Pigs. Unlike the original tale this story is narrated by Alexander T. Wolf, whom chooses to be called A. Wolf. In The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs A. Wolf's publishes a newspaper article, in hopes that the readers will see that he has been wrongly convicted for the murder of the 3 little pigs.
According to A. Wolf this is what really happened . . .
A. Wolf is at home baking a cake for his sweet old grandmother's birthday, when he comes down with a terrible cold. After realizing he has sneezed in all his sugar, A. Wolf sets out to borrow a cup of sugar from his neighbors the pigs. Upon asking the 1st pig for a cup of sugar he is refused. Having a terrible cold A. Wolf sneezes and blows down the entire straw home killing the 1st pig. A. Wolf then eats the 1st pig because he "didn't want to waste food". This same series of event happens again at the home of the 2nd pig. Upon reacting the 3rd pigs home A.wolf is again refused however, this time the 3rd little pig also insults A. Wolf with a "your Grandma joke". A. Wolf is the so enraged with the 3rd pig that he starts sneezing and banging on the little pigs door. As he is throwing a huge fit the police arrive and hall A. wolf off to jail, where he is convicted of murder. It is in jail that A. wolf writes this news paper article, telling the world of his side of the story.
I love this story because it retains aspects from the original The Three Little Pigs without being the same old story surrounded by new illustrations. This book would be most enjoyable to younger children in 2 or 3 grade. The vocabulary is very basic in this book and would not be a challenge for older children. To use this book as an educational tool in higher grades, I would have my students compare and contrast it with the original. I would ask my students questions like: Who do you believe? Why? How is that story more convincing? What similarities do the stories share? What are their differences? I think this book would also be a good way to open up and talk about having a difference of opinions in a respectful way. 
Tricia, I was super excited when I saw you bring this book into class. I remember reading it as a young kid and absolutely loving the story. I thought it was fabulous how you thought it would be a good story to use for compare and contrast. I know you mentioned it would work for 2nd and 3rd Graders because there isn't very strong vocabulary in it, but I know that you could use it in a middle school classroom as well. 6th and 7th graders are usually as a remember it struggling with cause and effect and there's a lot of places in this story that you could incorporate cause and effect. Also, middle schoolers are learning the difference between compare and contrast. With this you could have them read both the original story of the three little pigs and this version and have a quick lesson on compare and contrast without requiring them to read a huge long book to do so. This would be a fabulous tool in any classroom and I'm glad you shared it.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the best stories for teaching point of view, characterization, and theme! So delightful!!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this book as a kid for the first time in class one day, and I loved it. It is a good way to show kids even at an early age that there is almost never just one side to the story. Every disagreement involves at least two people, with their own background story that makes them act the way they do (i.e, the wolf having a terrible cold). This book could be used to help kids to see that sometimes if they look at the bigger picture, they can avoid a lot more conflict.
ReplyDeleteTricia,
ReplyDeleteLove this book! I had never seen the other side of this story. I think that this can show that there are two sides of the story (like you said in class). The illustrations in the book are great too! This may be able to show your students that they need to get the whole story and not judge quickly! Good moral lessons can be taught within this story. Great Blog!
Amanda
The illustrator of this book is one of my favorites (Lane Smith). I have never read this one but have adored the The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. I actually planned on bringing it for my next book talk. Due to your review, this one is now on my list of reading for the semester!
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