The Three Little Pigs

Written and Illustrated

    by Paul Galdone

 1. Bibliography 

Galdone, Paul.The Three Little Pigs. New York: Clarion Books, 1998. ISBN: 0395288134.

2. Plot Summary

The Three Little Pigs is a traditional tale about three pigs that leave their mother and set off on their own to build their own houses.  The first pig meets a man carrying straw and decides to build his house out of straw.  A wolf comes a long and blows the house down and eats the pig.  The second pig builds his house out of sticks.  The wolf comes to his house and blows it down and eats the second pig.  The third little pig builds his house out of bricks.  The wolf comes along and soon discovers he cannot blow this house down.  The wolf tries to find different ways to trick the little pig into coming out of his house, such as asking him to go with him to pick turnips at six o’clock the next day.  This little pig is smart and outwits the wolf each time the wolf tries to trick him.  The wolf ends up being the one that is out smarted at the end of the tale. 

3. Critical Analysis

Paul Galdone’s version of The Three Little Pigs stays true to the original tale.  This version is a little scarier than some of the new versions because two of the pigs actually get eaten.  Some children might have difficulty dealing with the brutal lose of the two pigs.  The reading level of this book is 3.1 or third grade. The author includes scenes in this story that are often left out of newer versions.  When the wolf is trying to out smart the pig he asks him to go pick turnips at Mr. Smith’s farm, he asks him to pick apples at Merry Garden, and he asks him to go to a fair.  The pig goes to all of the places, but not at the time that the wolf asked him to meet him.  The scenes help to illustrate the cleverness of the pig and add to the good triumphs over bad theme.

Paul Galdone’s illustrations are drawn with watercolors and ink.  The colors are light pastels with some bright colors mixed in.  The characters in the story are all painted and drawn realistically.  The little pigs are peach colored with grey spots.  Galdone  uses thin strokes of black ink on the wolf’s hair and different shades of red, light yellow, brown, and grey that make the wolf look realistic.  When the wolf is out of breath from trying to blow down the brick house Galdone uses purple, pink, and blue water colors to show how hard he tried to blow.  The detailed pictures flow nicely with the action happening in the story and help the reader visualize this timeless tale.  Children of all ages would enjoy reading this classic version of The Three Little Pigs.

4. Review Excerpts

Paul Galdone is the winner of the Kerlan Award in 1996.  He also illustrated two Caldecott Honor books Anatole (1957 Caldecott Honor Book) and Anatole and the Cat (1958 Caldecott Honor Book).

School Library Journal- "All in all, a very appealing edition of a beloved story."

Horn Book Review- “Once upon a time there was an old sow with three little pigs. She had no money to keep them, so she sent them off to seek their fortune.” The illustrator has adapted Joseph Jacobs’ well-loved version of the tale and brought it to life in vibrant line-and-watercolor drawings. The ingenuous little pigs go out into the world and build their homes with materials given to them by smiling stubble-chinned peasants, until eventually the frighteningly wicked, yellow-eyed wolf — reminiscent of the villain in Galdone’s The Monkey and the Crocodile — forces each little pig to confront him. Small touches — the framed illustrations of each pig building his house, the portraits of Mama and his two brothers on the third little pig’s wall, and the four-leaf clovers hidden on the dust jacket and in the end papers — help make for a balanced, sunnily attractive picture book. SHERYL B. ANDREWS

5. Connections

After reading the story, put the students into groups and have the students write their own version of The Three Little Pigs.  Let the students illustrate their versions of the story and share them with the class.  Discuss what parts of the story they kept the same and what they changed.  With younger students create one class book together and let the students illustrate it.

Read other versions or variants of The Three Little Pigs.  Compare and contrast the different stories. 

The Three Little Pigs: An Old Story by Margot Zemach ISBN: 978-0374477172

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner ISBN: 978-0618007011

The True Story of The Three Little Pigs by Lane Smith ISBN: 978-0140544510

Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg ISBN: 978-0064437790

Perform a Reader’s Theatre of The Three Little Pigs.  Write your own script or use the one at the following website. 

http://www.dcs.edu/webpages/dknox/readers_theatre_.cfm?subpage=1276200