''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. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Jon Scieszka Jon Scieszka ( : born September 8, 1954) is an American children's writer, best known for his 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 ...

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'', collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bat ...

. 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 is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

The Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's ho ...

as told by the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including 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 ant ...

, 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. History 19th century ...

as an

ALA Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists which are part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adu ...

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

Plot

The story is a retelling of

from the perspective of the wolf, named Alexander. Alexander attempts to request sugar from each of his neighbors, the three pigs, for baking a cake for his grandmother. Alexander accidentally kills the first and second pigs after his sneezes destroy their straw and stick houses. The third pig in the brick house refuses to give any sugar and insults Alexander's grandmother. Enraged, Alexander attempts to break down the front door. He is swiftly arrested by the pig police and sentenced to 10,000 years in prison for the first two pigs' deaths. Alexander states that the news coverage of the events was highly exaggerated, leading to his reputation as the

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 st ...

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, wi ...

''.

Adaptation

This book was later adapted into a

Weston Woods Studios Weston Woods Studios (or simply Weston Woods) is an American production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded ...

animated short in 2008 with the voice of

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti ( ; born June6, 1967) is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. After studying a ...

as the wolf. There is also an audio book of Giamatti's performance.

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 Children's books based on The Three Little Pigs Fiction with unreliable narrators Viking Press books

Plot

Critical reception

Adaptation

See also

Notes