The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
Name of Book: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith
Publisher : Penguin Press
Audience: Preschool- elementary
Summary: The traditional Three Little Pigs story is told from the point of view of the Wolf. His story is that he just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar in order to make a cake with his granny. So he visited his neighbor who had a house of straw. Unfortunately the wolf also had a cold and his sneeze knocked down the first pig’s straw house. The stick house of the second pig did not fair much better as the wolf kept sneezing. The third pig, who lived in a brick house, was just downright rude and insulted the wolf’s granny. This made the wolf so angry that he was banging on the door just as the police drove up. Once the media got hold of the story of the arrested wolf, they blew the whole thing out of proportion. The wolf was framed.
This story makes you think about truth. Is “truth” what the majority believes (the wolf is guilty) or should we take the time to assess events from all points of view. The wolf has a great explanation for the same sequence of circumstances.
Literary Elements at work in the story: The traditional children’s story is rewritten from the point of view of the wolf. Humor is at work as the wolf tells his side of the story, actually making for a believable argument on his behalf.
Scripture: Daniel and the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6:4-27)
Theology: Daniel is also “framed” by the king’s advisors who are jealous of him. Why didn’t the king take the time to hear Daniel’s argument? Much like the situation regarding the wolf, everyone believed the version of the story that the evil men had created. The result was that Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den. What saved Daniel was God’s providence over the situation.
Faith Questions
- How is this story different than the one that we all know?
- Why did everyone believe the pig’s version and not the wolf’s?
- Why was Daniel punished? Did the evil advisors trap Daniel?
- Do you think the king wanted to punish Daniel? Do you think the third pig wanted to punish the wolf?
- God saved Daniel. Do you think God can save the wolf too?
Review prepared by Inger Manchester, MDiv, Entering Cohort Fall 2006
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
“The third pig, who lived in a brick house, was just downright rude and insulted the wolf’s granny. This made the pig so angry that he was banging on the door just as the police drove up. ”
Not to be too picky, but shouldn’t it be the wolf that was angry and banging on the door and not the pig?