The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

“But like I was saying, the whole Big Bad Wolf thing is all wrong. The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar.“

Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs, or at least they think they do. In this clever re-telling Mr. Alexander Wolf tells his side of the story. He says it was just a big media spin.

This adaption of the classic tale is ingenious. I love the “reporting” narrative style. The illustrations complement the story-telling perfectly, starting from the newspaper style cover of the book. I’d recommend this book for kids 6+ as the story is based on the premise that the media twisted the story. Also in this rendition the wolf does eat two of the pigs.

Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith

If you like this type of story also check out The Three Pigs by David Weisner. In this re-telling the pigs escape the Big Bad Wolf by jumping out of the page. The pigs go on a storybook adventure jumping in and out of other stories and eventually bring a fiery friend back to scare the wolf. This version is suitable for young kids.

Falling for Rapunzel

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, throw down your hair!”

She thought he said, “Your underwear.”

One day a prince rides by and sees the girl of his dreams. He asks her to throw down various items so he can climb up and save her. But things don’t quite work out that way, due to series of mis-understandings. The book does end with the prince’s dreams coming true, but it’s not what you would expect. Afterall, it is a fractured fairytale.

My girls like the simple colorful images and rhyme. The author does a good job with the page-turns in holding the reader’s suspense of “what did Rapunzel throw down next”. This is a refreshing re-telling of a classic. Kids do not need be familiar with the original Rapunzel to enjoy this rendition.

Grab this book from the library and have a few chuckles!

Author: Leah Wilcox
Illustrator: Lydia Monks