The Three Pigs

The Three Pigs
by David Wiesner

The Three Pigs
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Book Summary Information

Author: David Wiesner
Brand: Clarion Books
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-04-23
ISBN: 0618007016
Number of pages: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books

Book Reviews of The Three Pigs

Book Review: 3 1/2 Concept Over Clarity: A Minority Opinion
Summary: 3 Stars

There's no question that David Wiesner is an incredibly imaginative and skillful illustrator. AS mentioned by other reviewers, his magical mystery tour shows how three post-modern pigs escape from the jaws of the big bad wolf by leaving the confines of their fairy tale book. Right when they're about to become wolf-food, the first pig teaches the others how to walk through and out of the book that made all of them famous, and two of them without a home and at the mercy of the wolf.

After their escape, they become the manipulators of text and picture. They knock over the pages of their former prison, and literally take flight on a paper airplane, landing in other picture books. THere's a wonderful close-up of the pigs aoard their airplane, their faces amazed and satisfied, their bodies changed from conventionally flat, line-heavy panel drawings of the 1940's conventional style to a shaded, luminous Pixar-style realism--it's the highlight of the book.

At this point, however, Wiesner's self-referential drawings and other pretensions make him the center of attention rather than the pigs. Following the close-up of the pigs in flight, there are six pages of mostly white space that convey very little information. The three pigs enter a fairy tale book page showing "the cat and the fiddle," but the pigs are inexplicably anxious to get away: One pig looks back at the bucolic--albeit zany--scene and says "Let's get out of here!" (However, they take the fiddle-playing cat with them). For some reason, they choose next to enter a St. George the dragon slayer themed book, illustrated with monochromatic line drawings. They side with the dragon, and help it slither off the page and into their newly discovered extra-book dimension. I did like the discontinuity between the traditional fairy tale text and the changes wrought by the pigs: We see that the dragon book reads "the prince... ...slew the dragon," but we see a completely flabbergasted prince, looking around for his prey. In the foreground, we see the dragon (now colored in shades of green) surrounded by the pigs.

Now I'd like a couple of similar scenes, where the pigs fly to other books to rescue maligned and misunderstood fairy book animals. THis would be fun and adventurous, it's logical, and it would make something of a statement. INstead, we see the pigs in front of giant panels showing illustrations from one of Wiesner's other books, which you wouldn;t know unless you'd read it. It interrupts the flow of the story, and adds unnessary confusion to a book that adults will comprehend much better than the young audience this for which this is intended. The conclusion is wonderful; owever, the pigs, the dragon, and the cat re-enter "THe Three Little Pigs" book and foil the wolf, and they decide they've sick of being embedded in a fairy tale. One pig simply says, "OK, that's enough," and begins to take the letters off the page we're reading. They all safely re-enter the house, looking like a blend of their inside- and outside-the-book illustrations, and there's just enough print left (thought the letters are uneven) to read, "And they all lived happily ever aft."

It's the kind of book that kiddie lit majors and deconstructionists will love, and the pictures are certainly colorful and eye-catching, after all, it won the Caldecott Medal. However, the book lacks cohesion and clarity, and the pig's actions and motivations are largely unexplained. I generally like kids' books that play with the form and format, but it's been done better, and with a more consideration for the reader (and no tributes to one's former books). I'd recommend "The Red Book," "Catilda," and "Trouble on the Tracks" as better examples of avant-garde books with a deconstructionist and Dada-esque sensibilities. It's always possible, of course, that your little one or pre-adolescent is the perfect audience for this work. I just think this one thinks itself into a somewhat idiosyncratic, scholarly corner.

Summary of The Three Pigs

This picture book begins placidly (and familiarly) enough, with three pigs collecting materials and going off to build houses of straw, sticks, and bricks. But the wolf?s huffing and puffing blows the first pig right out of the story . . . and into the realm of pure imagination. The transition signals the start of a freewheeling adventure with characteristic David Wiesner effects—cinematic flow, astonishing shifts of perspective, and sly humor, as well as episodes of flight.
Satisfying both as a story and as an exploration of the nature of story, The Three Pigs takes visual narrative to a new level. Dialogue balloons, text excerpts, and a wide variety of illustration styles guide the reader through a dazzling fantasy universe to the surprising and happy ending. Fans of Tuesday?s frogs and Sector 7?s clouds will be captivated by old friends—the Three Pigs of nursery fame and their companions—in a new guise.

Once upon a time three pigs built three houses, out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Along came a wolf, who huffed and puffed... So, you think you know the rest? Think again. With David Wiesner at the helm, it's never safe to assume too much. When the wolf approaches the first house, for example, and blows it in, he somehow manages to blow the pig right out of the story frame. The text continues on schedule--"...and ate the pig up"--but the perplexed expression on the wolf's face as he looks in vain for his ham dinner is priceless. One by one, the pigs exit the fairy tale's border and set off on an adventure of their own. Folding a page of their own story into a paper airplane, the pigs fly off to visit other storybooks, rescuing about-to-be-slain dragons and luring the cat and the fiddle out of their nursery rhyme.

Wiesner, Caldecott Medal recipient for Tuesday, and Caldecott Honor winner for both Sector 7 and Free Fall, prefers not to wait around until pigs fly. He gives them wings (or paper airplanes) and sets them on their way! In his latest flight of fancy, Wiesner uses shifting illustration styles and fonts to startle complacent readers into an imaginary world even as they ponder the conventional structure of story. His trademark crafty humor and skewed perspectives will tickle readers pink (even the nonporcine variety)! (Ages 4 and older) --Emilie Coulter

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