The Three Pigs - Caldecott Medal Winner

Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

This book was not at all what I expected it to be! I was reading along the expected story of the three pigs when, all of the sudden, the story took a completely different route! Sometime during the wolf's attack on the second pig's house, the pig is prompted by the first pig (who was "blown out of the story") to walk out of the story. The three pigs spend the remainder of the book adventuring through other stories and rescuing characters out of other books. The illustrations and the idea is very original and unique - I never would have expected it! Although Wiesner provides an interesting twist on a classic story, I can't say that I really like it. I guess I'm just too traditional! I was hoping to find a nicely illustrated version of the story Granny used to tell me at bedtime, and, just I was getting into the story, the characters decided to walk out! I have to hand it to the author/illustrator for originality but it just didn't appeal to me. This book kind of reminds me of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. This is another twist on the basic story that in my opinion, outshines Wiesner's Three Pigs.