Product Description

is presented from the humorous perspective of a beleaguered wolf, whose innocent requests to borrow cups of sugar are rendered cataclysmic by a snoutful of unfortunate sneezes. Reprint. NYT. AB. NYT.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5433 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Amazon.com Review
Did the story of the three little pigs ever seem slightly biased to you? All that huffing and puffing--could one wolf really be so unequivocally evil? Finally, we get to hear the rest of the story, "as told to author Jon Scieszka," straight from the wolf's mouth. As Alexander T. Wolf explains it, the whole Big Bad Wolf thing was just a big misunderstanding. Al Wolf was minding his own business, making his granny a cake, when he realized he was out of a key ingredient. He innocently went from house to house to house (one made of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks) asking to borrow a cup of sugar. Could he help it if he had a bad cold, causing him to sneeze gigantic, gale-force sneezes? Could he help it if pigs these days use shabby construction materials? And after the pigs had been ever-so-accidentally killed, well, who can blame him for having a snack?

As with The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, (another stellar collaboration by Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith), children who know all the old stories by heart will delight in reading impudent new versions. Here, Scieszka's text is clever, savvy, and tabloid-quick, and Smith's stretchy-strange illustrations complete this funny, irreverent, thoroughly original tale. (Ages 4 to 8)

From Publishers Weekly
"Designed with uncommon flair," said PW, this "gaily newfangled version of the classic tale" takes sides with the villain. "Imaginative watercolors eschew realism, further updating the tale." A Spanish-language reprint will be issued simultaneously ($4.99, -055758-X). Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1 Up--Victim for centuries of a bad press, Alexander ("You can call me Al") T. Wolf steps forward at last to give his side of the story. Trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make a cake for his dear old Granny, Al calls on his neighbors--and can he help it if two of them built such shoddy houses? A couple of sneezes, a couple of dead pigs amidst the wreckage and, well, it would be shame to let those ham dinners spoil, wouldn't it? And when the pig in the brick house makes a nasty comment about Granny, isn't it only natural to get a little steamed? It's those reporters from the Daily Pig that made Al out to be Big and Bad, that caused him to be arrested and sent to the (wait for it) Pig Pen. "I was framed," he concludes mournfully. Smith's dark tones and sometimes shadowy, indistinct shapes recall the distinctive illustrations he did for Merriam's Halloween ABC (Macmillan, 1987); the bespectacled wolf moves with a rather sinister bonelessness, and his juicy sneezes tear like thunderbolts through a dim, grainy world. It's the type of book that older kids (and adults) will find very funny.
-John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

What a blast to read this one aloud!!
Sure it's a good way to get your youngsters to start to think about the possibility that there is more than one "side" to a story, but that would just make this book sound "educational" and where would be the fun in THAT!?

This book is a delightful story that lends itself to ridiculous levels of "hamming" things up when reading it aloud. Poor, poor wolf with the terrible cold that just needs to bake a cake for his dear old granny. Even my oldest child (12 yob) sticks around to hear me read this "one more time" to my younger children.

GREAT book for not only kids but ADULTS..trust me!!
I'm STILL chuckling after buying this book and reading it before gifting it to my nephew Greg, 11, and Kayla, 7. And,. as with other books by Jon Scieszka, the huge problem is: I want this book for MYSELF.

The bottom line is that in his version, wonderfully illstrated by Lane Smith, the Three Little Pigs is the ultimate story of SPIN CONTROL. This time, unlike in a zillion other versions, the wolf is telling HIS side of the story -- what REALLY happened. And to hear him tell his story (with all of the familiar elements and a delicious economy of words) it's all a terrible mistunderstanding about his allergy, his desire not to waste food, and distortions by the press.

None of this gives any of this away, since the genius of this is not only in the conception, but in the TELLING of the story. Don't consider this just a book for kids. You can EASILY gift it to friends, relatives, favorite (and unfavorite) politicians and members of the media. It's the perfect late 20th-early-21st century retelling of the story, with the wolf as the poor misunderstood victim (of the police, the media, and his health etc). Just like the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, this works on two levels so the adults will be as delighted as the kids by this story -- which could easily have run as one of Mad Magazine's better pieces.

Get it for the kids, read it for yourself...and get ready to realize what a great gift this would be for adults of any political persuasions. LOVED IT so much...I hate to give this to the kids! Kids of ALL ages will love this story, whether you read it to them or they read it themselves (so will the kids under 40 years old).

There are always two sides to every story!
This is an excellent book. It is not only entertaining, but educational. Because it tells a well-known story from a different point-of-view, it clearly demonstrates to children (and reminds us adults as well) that there are always two sides to any story. A very enjoyable story indeed!