''The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!'' is a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Jon Scieszka Jon Scieszka ( :) (born September 8, 1954) is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based li ...

and

Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in '' Son in Law'', co ...

. Released in a number of editions since its first release by Viking Kestrel, an imprint of Viking Penguin in 1989, it is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

The Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...

as told by the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales that include some of '' Grimms' Fairy Tales.'' Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ...

, known in the book as "A. Wolf", short for "Alexander T. Wolf". The book was honored by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

as an ALA Notable Book.Molly Dunham Glassman. "Writing team creates comedy for children", ''Baltimore Sun'', reprinted in ''Cedar Rapids Gazette'', October 18, 1992, page 2F.

Plot

This story starts with a wolf named Alexander T. introducing himself, claiming that the story everyone knows is wrong, and that he was unjustly framed. He tells it from his perspective: he was making a cake for his grandmother but ran out of sugar and didn't have enough money to buy more. He then tries to ask one of his neighbors for a cup of sugar, a pig (which is the first little pig), whom he accidentally killed due to his sneezing knocking down his house. The first pig (who was in the straw house) was not in, while the second pig (who was in the stick house) was "shaving the hairs on his chinny chin-chin". The wolf then eats the pig, then he tries to ask the second pig whom he accidentally kills too. He then asks the final pig (who had a whole sack full of sugar). The third pig (who may have heard his brothers being eaten alive, and thus assumes Alexander is now after him too) talks impolite to him. (The third pig had a giant sack full of sugar and wouldn't give Alexander one little cup of sugar for his "dear sweet granny's birthday cake".) Alexander then goes insane after the pig insults his grandmother. Policemen pigs heard about the news and accused Alexander of causing havoc (mainly due to the fact that the reporters felt a story about a wolf with a sneezing cold looking for sugar was too boring). Then Alexander is taken captive and is sentenced to ten thousand years in pig prison (that is, for the destruction of the pigs's houses --murder of the first two and attempted murder of the third-- and the attempted sugar robbery). At the end, the wolf suggests that maybe the reader would loan him a cup of sugar.

Critical reception

Based on a 2007 online poll, the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stud ...

listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". It was one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

''.

Adaptation

This book was later adapted into a Weston Woods Studios animated short in 2008 with

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

as the wolf.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, The 1989 children's books American children's books American picture books Parody books Fairy tale parodies Big Bad Wolf Picture books based on fairy tales Works based on The Three Little Pigs Books about pigs Books about wolves Fiction with unreliable narrators Viking Press books

Plot

Critical reception

Adaptation

See also

Notes