Book Review: The Three Little Pigs

Illustrated By: Paul Galdone
Published by: Clarion Books, 1970
ISBN: 0-395-28813-4

Plot Summary

A mother sow does not have money to keep her piglets, so she sends them away from home. The first meets a man with straw and convinces him to give him the straw to build his house. The wolf comes, blows his house in and eats the pig. The second little pig meets a man with sticks who gives him the sticks to build his house. The same routine with the wolf ensues and the pig is eaten. The third little pig meets a man with a load of bricks and gets them to make his home. The wolf tries to blow his house in but is unable to, so he decides to trick the pig. He invites him to a turnip farm, an apple tree, and a fair, in turn, to try to eat him, but the pig outsmarts the wolf and goes before him. At the fair, he buys a butter churn and scares the wolf away by rolling down the hill in the churn. When the wolf sees he's been tricked a third time, he tries to go down the chimney but the pig starts a fire, boils the wolf and eats him for supper.

Critical Analysis

This book tells the classic tale of the three little pigs and their homes. It uses repetition in the language used by both the wolf and the pigs, which makes it easy for small children to follow and memorize.

It is interesting to be able to see the experience coming home from the fair from both the perspective of the third little pig and that of the wolf. We see that the pig's original intent was just to hide in the churn. It is an accident that the churn falls over and since he is rolling inside it, the pig does not realize he has frightened the wolf. Later when the wolf comes to his house, he tells the pig "A great round thing came rolling down the hill right at me" and the pig realizes that it was him and that he scared the wolf away. This makes the wolf angrier than he'd been before when the pig tricked him. Readers may be able to relate to this part of the story because it is likely that the wolf is embarrassed to find out that it was only the pig in a churn that made him so scared.

The illustrations are a treat for the eyes. The front cover pictures the three pigs, each holding an item that the wolf tries to use to trick the third pig, and ensconced in a homey wooden frame that one can imagine the third pig would hang on his sturdy brick wall. The color scheme is kept fairly simple with reliance on heavy black outlining to really enhance the characters and setting.

There is definitely a natural theme in the illustrations throughout the book. The title page features clover. The first page of the book shows a beautiful meadow, although it also evokes sadness with the presence of the mother pig's tears. It is interesting to see the difference in the 3 pigs' reactions to leaving. The first is facing away from his home, down the road, as if looking to the future. The second pig is facing his mother with a sad look on his face, but no tears. The third pig is crying, just as his mother is, and has a hoof raised in a wave goodbye.

The tale begins when the mother pig is unable to keep the piglets because she has no money. This provides detail about the pigs that is lacking from some other versions. Perhaps the reason that the first two pigs make bad decisions in regards to their homes is that they are too young and inexperienced. Other versions of the tale specifically state that the time has come for the pigs to go out into the world to find their own way. The first two pigs' fate is grimmer than some other versions in which they are able to escape the wolf and run to their brother's home for safety. This adds somewhat to the third pig's reasoning behind his treatment of the wolf at the end of the book and allows readers to take away a sense of fairness being returned to the story.

Review Excerpt

From The Horn Book "Some Pigs! What Makes a Good Three Little Pigs?", published March 1, 2009, by Joanna Rudge Long

“Paul Galdone’s 1970 The Three Little Pigs, small and lap-friendly, is close to Jacobs but slightly simplified — a boon for newly independent readers. His deftly sketched piglets are starry-eyed innocents in familiar-looking farmland, his wolf just scary enough to serve the story without provoking nightmares.”

Connections

Share other versions of The Three Little Pigs with students and have them compare and contrast the stories and illustrations.

Discuss the various ways that the wolf tried to trick the third little pig and how the pig manages to get a leg up on the wolf each time. Have students come up with additional ways the pig could trick the wolf in each situation.

This story lends itself to readers' theater, but take care if sharing with young children who will be sensitive to the fates of the first two pigs.