The Three Little Pigs: A Nosy Crow Fairy Tale

The Three Little Pigs: A Nosy Crow Fairy Tale

Bibliography:

Bryan, Ed. The Three Little Pigs: A Nosy Crow Fairy Tale. Nosy Crow, 2016. ISBN 978-0763686550

Plot Summary:

The three little pigs leave home to find their way. The Big Bad Wolf plans to blow their houses down and eat the three little pigs. The pigs run to the third brother's carefully built brick house to keep from being eaten by the wolf.

Critical Analysis:

Eye catching digitally created illustrations make you want to read more books like it. The pictures are clear, crisp, detailed and bold. The vibrant colors help make every picture better than the next. I love how the houses are numbered to help young readers with sequence of events. The wolf is so confident that he is going to eat the pigs, he is in his chef hat and food truck to prepare his meal. The food truck is such a modern idea, you can tell it is a recent version of the fairy tale. This story is so modern, it includes a female big rather than  all boys. She is smart and tough enough to build her own house out of sticks. There is no gender bias here.

The three little pigs set off into the forest to begin their lives. The text and vocabulary used explain  the first two pigs built their houses quickly without planning. The third pig took his time to plan and build a brick house that will stand no matter what. The climax begins when the big bad wolf drives his food truck into the piglet neighborhood. The big font and bold font expresses anger, caution and fear. The denouement was clear when  the foreshadowing action had the wolf climb down the chimney. We all knew what was going to happen next. My pre-k students yelled, "They are going to burn him!" My absolute favorite part to read to my students is, "I'll huff and Ill puff and I'll blow your house down!" This famous line gets all the kids huffing and puffing along with me.

This story kept the integrity of early retellings. The sequence of events were the same, the villain was the same, and good did conquer evil. The didacticism is clearly to plan, take your time, and work hard to get something done right. There was a formal opening, "Once upon a time" and a clear closing, "They lived happily ever after." This is a familiar story for adults to read to children and children can practice reading with the repetitive and predictable lines. I have to buy all of these books!

Review Excerpts:
Based on award-winning apps.

From School Library Journal-2011:

"This is a bright, colorful retelling of the story."

From Kirkus Review:

"Excellent design and illustrations successfully turn a popular story book app into an appealing picture book."

Connections:

Gather more Nosy Crow Fairy Tales to read such as:

• Bryan, Ed. Jack and the Beanstalk: A Nosy Crow Fairy Tale. ISBN 978-0763693329
• Bryan, Ed. Little Red Riding Hood. ISBN 978-0763693312

Gather more Three Little Pig Stories to read such as:

• Ladybird. The Three Little Pigs-Read it yourself with Ladybird: Level 2 by Ladybird. ASIN:B01K967F6

Use these stories to teach life lessons to your students or children.

Use these stories for teaching sequence of events.

Use these stories to compare and contrast one story from the other.