The Three Little Pigs retold and illustration by: James Marshall

1. Bibliographic Data
Marshall, James. The Three Little Pigs (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Reading Railroad Books (Pb)). New York: Turtleback, 2000.

2. Plot Summary
In The Three Little Pigs the mother pig sends her three young pigs out to live on their own. The three pigs decide to build houses for themselves. The first chooses to build his house out of straw. A hungry wolf notices the house, blows it down, and eats the pig. The second pig build his house house out of sticks, and the hungry wolf does the same thing. The third pig builds his house out of bricks very carefully to make sure it is sturdy. When the hungry wolf comes to eat the third pig and blow his house down he can't blow it down. After many tries of trying to entice the pig out of the house, the pig gets the best of the wolf, and "cooked the mean old wolf and gobbled him up."

3. Critical Analysis
James Marshall's retelling of The Three Little Pigs takes a more modern approach through his vocabulary. He also extends the story to include more effort by the wolf to get the third pig out of his house. Marshall conveys the first two pigs as not being very smart. They are not smart in their building supplies, and they are both mean to the people they buy the supplies from and the wolf. He makes the third pig more intelligent with his "capital decision" in building his house out of bricks. The pig then out smarts the wolf time and time again. Marshall not only conveys this through their demeanor, but their attire as well. His illustrations are bright and colorful, and the reader can see how casually dressed the first two pigs are, and how nice the intelligent pig is dressed in a suit and tie. Marshall uses up-to-date vocabulary that will carry this story on into future generations.

4. Awards and Review Excerpt(s)
*Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator
*Childrens Literature..."His retelling minimizes the gruesome aspects of traditional versions but still portrays the three pigs building their respective houses out of straw, wood and bricks and then tricking the Big Bad Wolf."

5. Connections
*Give the children straw, sticks, and legos to build the three houses in the story. They can then try blowing down each out like the wolf. The legos will pose as bricks and the children can see how sturdy the third pigs house was.
*Ask the children what they would build their house out of to protect them from the Big Bad Wolf.

"The Three Little Pigs." Childrens Literature Reviews. ezproxy.twu.edu:2291/cgi-bin/member/search/f?./temp/~4lctJR:1 (accessed September 30, 2010).