TITLE: THE THREE PIGS

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: The author and illustrator is David Wiesner

PAGES: n.pag.
GENRE: The genre of book Folklore. This story is specifically a Fractured Fairy Tale.
LEVEL: (P-I) is the level given by “Literature and the Child. The age level given by
amazon.com is 4-7 years old. This means that it would fall into (N-P). After reading the
book for myself I came to the conclusion that the book would not be appropriate for the
nursery level. I believe this because of the way that the book is set up, the text on the
first few pages is just horizontal however the text starts to change a few pages in.
Instead of it just being the text that the reader is supposed to be completely focused on,
there are illustrations of book pages flung around and these pages come from a book
about the three little pigs.
Nursery is birth to age five and I don’t believe that with the illustrations being set
the way they are and with the extra text that the child in this age group would be able to
tell the difference in what was illustration and what was meant to be the text. I believe a
child the age of five could read most of the words but not all of them in the book and
they would maybe need help pronouncing/remembering how to pronounce the start to
some words. I feel like once in the primary age group which is ages five to eight years
old that the child would be able to read all the words on their own and are able to focus
more on interpreting the meaning of details in illustration or notice more about the actual
meaning behind the words rather than just how they sound like or mean individually.
AWARDS: The book won the Caldecott Medal in 2002. It's also mentioned in the
textbook on page 208.
ABSTRACT: This book is similar to that of the story of the three little pigs that many
have grown to love for many many years but with the author’s unique, creative and
detailed illustrations this story has quite the twist. It is clear why David Wiesner won The
Caldecott Medal in 2002 for his illustrations. The author’s take on the story is from a
different perspective and gives the feeling as though the reader is watching the
characters from a tv perspective or live an animated play. The big bad wolf is hungry
and he is after the three pigs. Each pig dealing with the big bad wolf, will they manage
to barely escape his grasp or will they meet a different ending?
EVALUATION:
This book is an example of Folklore. This story is specifically considered a Fractured
Fairy Tale which according to the textbook is a telling of a story that is passed down but
is fundamentally changed instead of just recasted. There are a few different types of
folklore. This book is a good example of Folklore because though it is “fractured” it is
still a fairy tale and shows good qualities of a fairy tale such as it contains magic. The
story not only magically allows creatures to talk but allows them to exit their stories and
interact. It also contains a dragon that they meet towards the end of the book that they
take home with them to eat soup. It is also magical because they are able to step into a
nursery rhyme and then back out of it. This is considered magical because it is
impossible in the real world. In fairy tales, evilness is punished. In the three pigs, the
wolf is going after the pigs and even tries to destroy their homes to get to them.
However, the pigs are able to escape and leave the story. He is trapped in the story and
doesn’t get the meal he hoped for. The pigs help a dragon and they all go back to the
house of bricks which is back in the pig’s story and when they go back the wolf starts
yelling at the door and the dragon intervenes and the wolf disappears. He was evil to
the pigs by terrifying them and he got terrified by the dragon later on in return.

The fractured part of the fairy tale does make it different than the typical telling of
the story that has been passed down for generations. The way the story is told is
different but requires knowledge of the original telling. Parts of the original telling are still
being passed but others are altered. It is a good example because the plot in the story
is short. The pigs escape trouble in their story, they enter a few stories for a very short
time and they return to theirs with friends that they helped escape their stories and one
of these friends scares the wolf off for good so that they can get back to enjoying each
others company. There is little character development, the pigs, dragon, cat, and wolf all
show little development. They don’t really have much of a personality of their own.
Smaller things can be noticed like how the wolf is a rude, angry guy and that the pigs
are kind and adventurous but there isn’t deeper development than that. Children could
not connect with the characters in this book on a deeper level like sharing similar life
experiences or interests.

There is a moral to this story in a way because I would say that it shows that
kindness leads to the formation of positive relationships. Being rude and evil only leads
to bad karma/ troubles. The setting is vague. It isn’t super detailed and the characters
never spend too much time in one place. The setting changes but the biggest difference
in setting is the pages where they go into a nursery rhyme. The colors change and
technique and media seems to change to more of a colored with crayons look. On a few
of the illustrations on the pages, the background is mainly white.

The reading level for this book is (p-I). This story appeals to the age group because it
attracts children who have read or heard the original telling of the story because of the
three pigs on the front cover and the title being so close to the well-known title “The
Three Little pigs”.The story also appeals to the age group because of the characters
being talking animals with the bad guy being a talking wolf. Children of this age group
tend to pick stories that would be considered fiction over non-fiction stories, stories with
heroes, stories with magic, or stories that show things like adventures. These stories
are often used for the children to participate in Aesthetic reading which is reading for
experience specifically in this story for a magical experience.It appeals to children of this
age group because once they reach the primary age group it should be expected that
most of the words in the story are familiar to them. They may need the occasional
reminder as we all do sometimes on words that stump us. They stop focusing their
attention too much on individual words but more so on the meaning. Transactional
process is about the influence that the reader and the text have in creating the meaning.

The setting in this story is the book of the three little pigs that they exit in the story. It's
their houses that they leave behind and one in which they return to. The setting is
important because it is to develop the idea that they are exiting other stories and then
entering others. The plain white background is helpful because it helps the reader easily
see what is going on and focus their attention on the story that the characters are
exiting and the story that they are entering. The background is important because, with
the first setting containing the well-known houses, this helps children identify the story
that the characters are exiting and helps them think back to what they have heard, listen
and watching what is currently happening in the book where they are at to then help
them have an idea as to what they should expect to see as they move through the book.
The setting is important to this story because the whole perspective of the story is that
the characters are physically exiting the original setting in the story. It sets the story up
so that the plot can continue.

The characters as stated before are not very developed. This is typical in folklore books
and stories. I feel the reason for this was to make it easier to tell the story since it was
verbally told, so that the focus would be on the moral of the story and so that there was
room for others to give their own twist to the story. The characteristics that can be
observed are the physical characteristics/ details and who is good and who is bad but
also who are curious and adventurous.

They appeal to the reader like I said before because the book requires
knowledge of the story “The Three Little Pigs” so the characters being pigs in this story
as well helps the reader identify the story that these characters are exiting. The
characters also appear to the reader because they are magical and since children
would be reading this for the experience the dragon in the book and all the talking
creatures allows the reader to have a magical experience while reading the story. The
kindness of the pigs that can be seen from the dialogue as they tell the dragon to follow
them when he is in trouble and children may view the pigs as heroes for helping the
dragon escape. They also are more engaged when they see the wolf because he is
exactly what they might picture a bad guy to be like and the way he speaks to the pigs
makes his personality known and the children can see that he is not a nice guy. The
children will want to make sure that he doesn’t capture the other characters. The
characters are not stereotypical. There are not any illustrations that show any
stereotypical clothing, behavior, or any text that shows it.
 I don't believe there to be one set protagonist and I think this is because all of
the characters share similar importance. The wolf is important because he is the bad
guy and the reader needs to see what he is up to but the pigs are important because
they are who he is after and they need to escape him but the other characters escape
their stories as well to seek good company from the pigs and they also help form the
idea of the story that they exit from the stories and enter others.

The plot isn’t like the book of poetry that I previously talked about that circled back
around. The plot is pretty straight forward and there wasn’t really any mystery. It was
more so humorous as the wolf had no clue what was happening to the pigs and then
ran into the dragon and went from being terrifying to being terrified. The plot was clear
but somewhat suspenseful as the reader had to turn pages to see what they were going
to do next because they had an idea of what they knew from the original telling of the
story but once they got to a certain point it was showing that the author added their own
twist on the story and they didn’t know which parts of the story they’d see later on what
what differences they would see. This engaged the children as they wanted to know
what was happening and the only way to find out was to turn the page.

I believe the plot really worked for this story because it gave just that little twist
that the children needed to fully grab their attention instead of just reciting a story they
already knew from hearing many times before. I don’t feel the plot was missing anything
really, there was a small setup for the problem, the actual problem, and a resolution.
The set up was that the reader was made known what story the characters were in and
then the problem was the trouble caused by the bad wolf and the resolution was them
exiting the story and entering others to help characters and then having the dragon help
them to they can all be at peace and enjoy each other company without the wold
making problems.

The conflict in the story was the pigs being attacked by the wolf and him destroying their
homes to get to them. The pigs' lives were in danger and they needed to escape the
wolves and find safety. That is the main issue in the book and the writer uses this
conflict to show the little bit of development that the characters actually have. This
shows that the wolf is an angry, dangerous, and mean creature and shows that as the
pigs escape and go into other stories that they are adventurous but also shows that they
are brave for returning to their own story and standing up to the wolf as their friend that
they helped rescue from danger helps them. The conflict helps the theme a lot because
showing that the wolf is going after them in an evil manner and that they still prove to be
kind, shows the children that kindness gets you rather than being evil does but it also
shows that if you help others they are more likely to help you. They helped the dragon
and received help in return without even expecting it. I think the conflict very much
helped develop the theme.

There is more than one theme but they all trace back to the fact that being kind
will help you out more in life than being rude and evil and basically what karma is. The
wolf went after the pigs terrifying them and being kind of a bully and then got his karma
when he met the dragon that terrified him when it stood up for the pigs. The book
doesn’t actually show what happened to the wolf so it might be assumed by children
that the dragon ate him but either way, he got karma.

The children can see that because of the pigs' kindness they were able to build
friendships. The story doesn’t appear to have any bias on the writer’s part. I think that
the theme itself is valuable to kids because they need to learn that kindness is important
and that it can help them build the relationships that we all crave but also that whatever
negative energy that they put out in the world can come back to them. Like if they say
unkind things about a fellow student, it might happen later on that they are getting
picked on and that student doesn’t want to help them like they might have if the child
had been kind to them when they needed the kindness.

The vocabulary used in the book is purposeful. It was written with the intention for that
specific level of reader to be reading it because of the vocabulary being at that specific
age level and not being too advanced but also the text leaving suspense which is
something that really pulls at those levels attention. There really in not things like similes
used or metaphors but because of the mother goose story being incorporated there
were bits of rhyming and there was not much description of character or setting but
instead, the illustrations showed the detail of both more.

The perspective changes from being told in like a third-person point of view to
being in a first-person point of view for the part where they exit the story. This helps
show that they are exiting the story because they go from being narrated in the original
story to being the ones talking once they exit. Since the story is a fractured fairy tale a
lot of the stuff is made up/ magical so there really isn’t very much accurate information
other than maybe the looks of the illustrations on the animals to an extent. There are
still references used though because they reference the original telling of this folklore
but also reference other stories/pieces. There also isn’t really diversity in this book
unless you think of it being diversity of different creatures and kinds of stories but this
doesn’t upset me because the story isn’t really about actual humans so it is somewhat
harder to incorporate diversity into it and especially because of the plot of the story but
also its not having a negative effect the way that the story is written. At first glance, I
would have said that it did not reflect the culture that it was from but upon deeper
looking I realize that it indeed does.
 Though I am not too familiar with the specific culture it reflects a quality that a
culture may show and the fact that it is used to teach the specific quality then it must be
important to the culture in which the book is from. The theme is about kindness and
good/bad. Some cultures really jam into children's heads that they need to lead their
lives in ways like showing kindness to others because it is the right thing to do in their
eyes and that the idea of karma that can be seen in many different cultures. Also with a
ranking system, it may be believed in certain cultures that being kind to those above you
is important because it is respectful and that it may help them move up in rank.

I believe the illustrator used a mixture of media. These include colored pencils, crayons
at some point and I believe it was mostly computer-generated or created. This is
different from the poetry book that I did because these images are more realistic and
the pigs often look like they are positioned and created to look like they are popping out
of the pages. I think that the illustrator used this in order to make it work with the text to
show that the creatures are exiting their stories and to almost give it the look of a movie
or animated play. I think that this was such a smart and creative way of creating the
illustrations and that it works perfectly with the plot of the book.

The text and the illustrations are able to work perfectly together to create the
story and the animation look draws the children in like they are watching a movie. The
technique used was probably sketching or coloring of the images and then being
scanned into a computer system to be further altered for the end result. The lines in the
images are always thinner to keep the look as realistic as possible and sometimes the
lines are not made to boldly pop out but instead appear almost nonexistent. This works
perfectly to help the author achieve the animated movie look without looking like a
cartoon.

The color in the book is pretty natural for part of the book and everything is
realistic colors but then at one point in a story it appears black and white and then the
colors are brighter and more exaggerated colors. The colors in the mother good part
accurately reflect the colors you might see on an actual page out of a mother goose
nursery rhyme book. The colors create a gloomier effect when trouble is around
showing little or dull colors but when things are happy and safe the colors are bright and
this also helps the characters pop out more from the white background. Its colors also
show when the pigs are entering and exiting the mother goose piece because it shows
a difference in color from the pieces of the pigs that are in and those that are out. I really
like the colors chosen simply for the effect that they have in showing the reader what is
going on but also helps the reader see the mood a lot clearer than what I have seen
other books do. I do also really like the animated look to the book and I believe the color
choice really helps add to that look. It also shows movement with shading for shadows
and lighting.

I would say that the images are rounder instead of shaper and I think this is purposeful
to add to the look that the author is trying to achieve in making these characters look
like something a child might see in a movie. It also makes things look softer. The texture
in the book is somewhat shown. The thicks are made to look rougher using the lines but
the pig is made to look scuff because of color and lines. The wolf’s fur is made to look
softer with the color choice, shading, and lines. The white background having a shadow
from the paper airplane the pigs created makes the ground they walk on look smoother.
I think that the texture makes the characters look more real but also helps make the
reader feel like if they were to reach out their hand that what they felt would be exactly
like what they imagined. I think it makes certain parts of the book feel more peaceful but
also it adds to the realistic look that can be seen with animated characters.

I would say that the style of the illustrations is representational because of the
fact that the characters and objects that could be seen in real life match what they
would look like in real life. I think the illustrator chose this style so that the images
accurately represented the text. I don't think they wanted an unrealistic look and they
may have also used folk style. The pigs look realistic being pink but also their hair on
their body shows and is accurate to the text of a pig but they also show the wolf and the
wolf looks realistic to an extent and the background is mostly accurate in color and
proportion. This helps the story because it shows these characters exiting stories and
looks like they exit into our real world.

The illustrations are free on the page in some places but in others, they are
boxed in to create the look that they are on pages that are laying around. The parts that
are not are the parts of the page that are supposed to look like the creatures exited the
pages and are free. The look is rectangular shaped and is longer in width than in height.
I think this works well with this reading level of the audience because they are at an age
where they are able to control a book more. It helps the illustrations because it helps it
look like the creatures are walking up along a screen at a movie theater or something. I
believe that the illustrations and text work together. You get bits from each but neither
would make sense without the other. The text helps the readers especially when the
creatures exit the stories and are just in the white area to understand what the creatures
are thinking. The illustrations help the text because they show the detail of description
that the text lacks. For example, the reader would have no clue what these pigs looked
like without the illustrations or that they exited the and entered some of the stories. The
page turns affect the book because it builds anticipation as you see the creatures
moving along the pages and your turning to see where they are going because the
pages are not telling you. Some of the pages were wordless and the illustrations looked
like they were moving off the page. This helped draw my attention even and so I think it
is a great strategy especially for this age level because it is a technique that will keep
them turning pages but also keep their attention close.

For a read-aloud, this would work perfectly to help a teacher keep the children
interested. Like I said some pages have no text others have small few word bubbles
and others have a couple of lines. The text really varied from page to page depending
on what is happening. This is good because it added to the feeling of the book but also
helped with the anticipation of the next page. In some parts it made the pages feel like
the pace picked up and others like it slowed. I think children would find this book to be
really awesome since it looks like something they could see in a movie and even gives
the feel but also they would remember some of the story and this would be their way of
connecting to the story.

I think that children could easily get the theme and would be able to follow along
well. I believe that a child would be able to see the humor and that this would be a book
that they might want to share with friends or would ask the teacher to read for their
class. My book buddy was around while I typed this assignment and even begged me to
take a break to read her my library book. She was so intrigued by the “cute piggies” on
the cover and found it so cool that they jumped out of the stories.

APPLICATION: I could see this book being used for a full class read-aloud. I think that
maybe if you entered a school library that you might see a librarian reading this book to
a class. I could see this being used for an activity that I saw in a classroom during a
practicum of mine where the student had sheets of paper that had lines for their text and
boxes for their images. I think that this book could be used to encourage children's
creativity and encourage them to use it to create their own short stories to take home
and read to their families. I also think that this story is good to use for a story plot
diagram to help teach children about the different elements of a story by reading it to
them and having them fill out a story plot diagram on this book because it clearly and
easily shows the different elements. Things like the plot and the resolution. Having the
children Identify this can help them learn to improve their development of their writing.
Here is a link that has diagrams that talk about the different elements that you might see
a teacher use for this book. These diagrams would help children realize the different
elements, look at what they do good at identifying and help them understand what they
might have struggled to find and identifying these things doesn’t just help them develop
their writing but also can help them develop an appreciation and a deeper understand
for the book itself but also other books that they come across because each of these
elements helps further develop the story itself and lacking one of them could completely
change the story itself, that's how important each piece is to the puzzle.
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