Book Reviews

1. Author/Illustrator: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
Title and date of publication: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, first published in 1989
Genre: Traditional Literature
Format: Picture Book
Award(s): Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (1991)
North Dakota Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award (1991)
When evaluating this book there were eight points or questions to ask in relation to
understanding traditional literature. The eight questions used to evaluate traditional
literature are: (a) Does the literature help children better understand the nonscientific
cultural traditions of early humanity? (b) Does the literature show the interrelatedness of
various types of stories and narrative motifs? (c) Does the literature help explain how
different versions of a tale are dispersed? (d) Does the literature help children learn to
appreciate the culture and art of a different country? (e) Does the literature provide
factual information about a different country? (f) Does the literature familiarize children
with another language or dialect of the world? (g) Can the literature be used to stimulate
creative drama, writing, and other forms of artistic expression? (h) Does the literature
encourage children to realize that people from another part of the world have inherent
goodness, mercy, courage, and industry?
In the book, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs we look at the wolf as the motif of the
story. The wolf is used in many folk tales from different cultures. The wolf is seen as an
angry or mean beast in different stories, for example: Little Red Riding Hood, The
Three Little Pigs, and The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids. The wolf is recurring
throughout this book as the story is told from his perspective to show that he is
innocent.
In reading this story of The 3 Little Pigs compared to the traditional tale, we can see
how different versions of a tale can be constructed. In the traditional tale of The Three
Little Pigs, the story is told showing that the wolf was mean and intentionally tried to
blow the pigs houses down so that he could eat them. In the book, The True Story of
The 3 Little Pigs the story is told from the wolf’s perspective. He tries to show the
reader that he was just trying to borrow some sugar and sneezed. At the end you can
see the deceitful wolf for who he really is. We see the wolf in jail with a cup that says,
Pig Penn and he’s asking if he can borrow a cup of sugar.
This book can be used to stimulate creative drama, writing, and other forms of creative
expression. Students can act out the story from the book or change the ending.
Students could also write a newspaper article interviewing the wolf and the last pig,
about the two different stories being told and make a choice on which story they believe.
In the article they can include why they believe that story is the true tale of what
happened. Students could design a house that they think would be safe from the wolf.
There are so many activities that students can do in regards to using this book to show
their own creativity.
In picture books the illustrations are just as important as the text. Sometimes the
pictures can tell us what is happening in the story. There are six elements used to
evaluate illustrations. Those six elements are: (a) The illustrator’s use of visual
elements-line, color, shape, texture-and of certain artistic media should complement or
even extend the development of plot, characterization, setting, and theme in the text. (b)
The design of the illustrations-individually and throughout an entire book-should

2. reinforce the text and convey a sense of unity that stimulates aesthetic appreciation. (c)
The artistic style the illustrator chooses should enhance the author’s literary style. (d)
The illustrations should help readers anticipate the unfolding of a story’s action and its
climax. (e) The illustrations should convincingly delineate and develop the characters.
(f) The illustrations should be accurate in historical, cultural, and geographical detail,
and they should be consistent with the text.
The artistic style chosen for this book follows the author’s style of writing and engages
the reader. While reading the book and looking at the illustrations the reader can feel
as if they are there watching everything happen. The pictures in the book are simply
stated just as the text is. The illustrations show exactly what is happening at that point
in the story.
The illustrations in this story help the readers to anticipate what may happen next. As
you read through this book the illustrations are set in dark tones which gives the
impression that something bad is happening or will happen. During the story in which
the wolf confronts the first two pigs the illustrations do not show the pigs up close, it
shows them after the wolf has sneezed and blown down their houses. It’s not until the
wolf gets to the last pig’s house that we see the pig upset and angry.
The illustrations in this story show the wolf gradually getting upset. In the beginning we
see the wolf feeling sick but baking a cake for his grandmother until he realizes he has
no sugar. He decides to ask his neighbor, who just happens to be a pig. In this
illustration of the wolf we see him walking and possibly whistling looking very carefree.
At each of the pigs houses he seems to be more content that the house fell down once
he sneeze, and of course he eats the pig. At the last pig’s house he becomes more
upset because he has no way to get into the house. The very last illustration of the wolf
shows him in jail with an untrustworthy look on his face.
After reading the traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs and the book The True Story of
the 3 Little Pigs we would discuss the differences in the two books. After the discussion
I would ask for two groups of students, each group would pick one of the stories to act
out for the rest of the class. Once each group has presented their reenactment of the
story to the class we will vote to see which story the class feels is the true story. As an
extension onto this the class could then survey others in the school to see which story
the school feels is the most accurate portrayal of the story.

3. Author/Illustrator: F. Rojankovsky
Title and date of publication: The Three Bears, 1948
Genre: Fiction Traditional Literature
Format: Picture book
Awards: No awards
When evaluating this book there were eight points or questions to ask in relation to
understanding traditional literature. The eight questions used to evaluate traditional
literature are: (a) Does the literature help children better understand the nonscientific
cultural traditions of early humanity? (b) Does the literature show the interrelatedness of
various types of stories and narrative motifs? (c) Does the literature help explain how
different versions of a tale are dispersed? (d) Does the literature help children learn to
appreciate the culture and art of a different country? (e) Does the literature provide
factual information about a different country? (f) Does the literature familiarize children
with another language or dialect of the world? (g) Can the literature be used to stimulate
creative drama, writing, and other forms of artistic expression? (h) Does the literature
encourage children to realize that people from another part of the world have inherent
goodness, mercy, courage, and industry?
The narrative motif in this story is the little girl, Goldilocks. In most stories the motif can
be a mean/deceitful character, a character with magical qualities, or supernatural traits.
Goldilocks seems to be a sweet little girl that has just found a house in the middle of the
forest. The storyline begins to follow her as she moves among the house. Goldilocks
does not have any extraordinary abilities; she is just trying to find the perfect fit for her.
In this story children will read that the bear family eats porridge. Children may not know
what porridge is until they look at the illustrations. Once they see the illustration they
will see that porridge is just like what we consider oatmeal. There will be a discussion
about how other cultures call the same foods we eat by different names than what we
know them as.
This book can be used to stimulate creative expression among students. Students can
recreate the story by acting it out as the story is told or they can change the ending.
Students can add to the story instead of having it end with Goldilocks running away.
Students could listen to the book and then illustrate how they imagine the story and
pictures would look.
In picture books the illustrations are just as important as the text. Sometimes the
pictures can tell us what is happening in the story. There are six elements used to
evaluate illustrations. Those six elements are: (a) The illustrator’s use of visual
elements-line, color, shape, texture-and of certain artistic media should complement or
even extend the development of plot, characterization, setting, and theme in the text. (b)
The design of the illustrations-individually and throughout an entire book-should
reinforce the text and convey a sense of unity that stimulates aesthetic appreciation. (c)
The artistic style the illustrator chooses should enhance the author’s literary style. (d)
The illustrations should help readers anticipate the unfolding of a story’s action and its
climax. (e) The illustrations should convincingly delineate and develop the characters.
(f) The illustrations should be accurate in historical, cultural, and geographical detail,
and they should be consistent with the text.
The design of the illustrations in this book follow the format of the way the text is
presented on each page. Since this is an easy read book there are only a small amount

4. of words on each page. The illustration on each page matches exactly what the words
are saying. For example in the book it describes that the house had three chairs, a
great big chair, a medium sized chair and a wee little chair. The illustration shows the
three chairs as described in the text. The same for the beds and the bear’s porridge
bowls. As we read through the book we see the illustrations match the text from page
to page.
The illustrations in the story help the readers to anticipate what will happen next. On
one page Goldilocks knocks on the bear’s front door but no one is home she doesn’t
hear anyone to tell her to “come in” but she chooses to open the door and go inside.
She then continues through the house sitting in their chairs, trying their porridge, and
finally tried their beds. She tries all the beds and falls asleep in the wee little bed. At
the same time we know that the three bears had gone for a walk to let their porridge
cool off. After Goldilocks falls asleep we see that the bears are on the way back to the
house. Oh no what will happen? Will the bear’s find Goldilocks in their house?
The illustrations in this story show that the story takes place in a different setting. The
detail in the bear’s clothing shows that it was a time back in history and in another
place. We previously saw where the food that the mama bear was fixing was porridge
or oatmeal for us. If we look at the illustrations of the beds, students may see that they
look like beds from England in the shape that they are formed.
Before students came to the Media Center I would have pictures from the story printed
out. After reading the book with the class I would talk to them about sequencing.
Students could work together to put the pictures in the correct sequence based on
events of the book. We then would look to see who had the correct sequence or how
the groups did by going back through the book.