LS 5603 Picture Books - The Three Pigs

I choose to read The Three Pigs by David Wiesner for my review of a Caldecott award medal book.

Bibliographic Data
Wiesner, David. 2001. The Three Pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618007016

Plot Summary
The classic story of The Three Little Pigs is revamped just as the wolf is about t0 eat the pigs up. A confused wolf searches for the pigs, but they are having their own adventure outside of the pages of the story they belong in. The pigs meet a cat with a fiddle and a dragon from other stories and bring them back to the house made of bricks just in time to confuse and scare away the wolf.

Critical Analysis
The illustrations of The Three Pigs begin quite simply and much like any older picture book, but this rapidly changes as the pigs realize they can leave their own story and explore others. The pigs become more realistic and natural in appearance in contrast to the pages they have left.

The illustrations then take a dramatic turn from most any picture book that children are probably used to. This could confuse some children, but others would certainly be excited that this book is not exactly like every other picture book they have read.

The pigs begin their exploration of different stories by traveling on a paper airplane they created themselves from a page of their story. David Wiesner truly makes the pigs fly across the pages; on one page the three pigs are very close flying toward the reader, and on the next they are in the distance zooming away. After crashing, a brilliant page to create interaction with the reader is included as one of the pigs is extremely large and close up saying, "I think... someone's out there." Can the pig see the reader?

The style of the pigs changes two more times first as they enter the cartoon world of Hey Diddle Diddle, and later as they enter a single color sketch drawing of a medieval setting complete with a dragon. As the pigs and their new friends find the brick house again they are able to reenter their original story and a familiar "they all live happily ever after" completes the book.

The innovative changing of styles within each story brings life to the pigs and their friends. It is as if they are real pigs that find themselves trapped within children's stories, but when all is said and done that is where they belong.

Review Excerpts
The Horn Book: "In a time when series predominate and all too often an author’s new book looks depressingly like the last, David seeks a different approach and visual subject for each of his books."
ALA Booklist: "Wiesner uses a range of artistic styles and thrilling perspectives to play with the structure and conventions of traditional storytelling, redefining the picture book."

Connections
David Wiesner won a Caldecott in 1992 for Tuesday. ISBN 0395870828
He also just won the 2007 Caldecott for Flotsam. ISBN 0618194576