Product Description

When it comes time for the three little wolves to go out into the world and build themselves a house, their mother warns them to beware the big bad pig. But the little wolves' increasingly sturdy dwellings are no match for the persistent porker, who has more up his sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying solution to the little wolves' housing crisis.

Eugene Trivizas's hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury's enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11914 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780689815287
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
A talented team ingeniously up-ends the classic tale of the three little pigs, and the laugh-out-loud results begin with the opening illustration--a mother wolf lounges in bed, her hair in curlers and her toenails freshly polished, with her three fluffy, cuddly offspring gathered round. The wolf siblings, amply warned about the big bad pig, construct their first house of sturdy brick, a medium which resists the pig's huffing and puffing but is no match for his sledgehammer. Their abodes become progressively more fortress-like, and the pig's implements of destruction, correspondingly, grow heftier, until the wolves try another tack and weave a house of flowers. The fragrance so intoxicates and tames the pig that he and the wolves live together happily ever after. In his English-language debut (see note, p. 55), Trivizas laces the text with funny, clever touches, from an ensemble of animals who obligingly donate whatever building materials the wolves require, to the wolves' penultimate, armor-plated residence replete with a "video entrance phone" over which the pig can relay his formulaic threats. Oxenbury's watercolors capture the story's broad humor and add a wealth of supplementary details, with exquisite renderings of the wolves' comic temerity and the pig's bellicose stances. Among the wittiest fractured fairytales around. Ages 5-10.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3. A menacing pig is thwarted by three endearing young wolves in this new twist on the porcine favorite. Three cheers for these frisky, frolicking creatures?and for the swine who learns the joy of friendship and beauty.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Never mind the other incarnations of this tale--classic, fractured, rapped; this inversion will have children giggling from the outset. Sent into the world by a mother who wears hair curlers, three ``cuddly'' wolves build a brick house, then try to fend off a snarling thug of a pig who demolishes it with a sledgehammer. Their next place is concrete; the pig has a pneumatic drill. They construct a metal fortress, complete with steel chains and Plexiglas; the pig goes for dynamite. Then they build a house of flowers and the pig pulls a ``Ferdinand,'' not only reforming but making it a happy m‚nage … quatre. This latter-day plea for a peaceable kingdom reckons once and for all with the question at the core of this familiar tale--why must pigs and wolves be enemies? Oxenbury provides dauntingly well- executed watercolors, offering such charming contrasts as an angular modernistic concrete home in an otherwise pastoral setting. (Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A wolf-friendly revision!
As a kid, I loved wolves and hated the Three Little Pigs. So this funny, wolf-friendly revision of the creepy old classic really tickles me! It begins with Mama Wolf sending her doting pups off into the wide world with the warning: "Beware of the Big Bad Pig!" Keeping Mama's message in mind, the trio decides to build a strong house for protection from the boorish boar. The three fluffy, friendly, refined little wolves are never named, but I like to call them Frasier, Niles, and Daphne. The pig, a burly bully of a construction-worker, could be named Brutus. Safe in the yard of their new brick home, the little wolves play a spirited game of squash. Suddenly the swaggering swine shows up! In a reversal of the original tale, the Big Bad Pig pounds on the wolves' door and demands to come in, while they quaver, "Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chins!" Then, using his construction hardware, the pig destroys the brick house, and the wolves flee with their fluffy tails between their legs! As the three little wolves build progressively massive fortresses, the big bad pig employs heavy ground-breaking and demolitions equipment to smash them to rubble. At last, the little wolves have no materials left with which to build, except -- ah, but I'm not going to give away the surprise! Let's just say, the ending is a lot sweeter than the original. No one gets boiled alive or devoured, and the the classic adversaries even become friends. Kids and parents will love the beautiful artwork and the silliness of the story, although the ending might seem just a bit too saccharine after all the destruction and mayhem.

Brilliant story, distracting pop-ups
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig has been a favorite story in our household for many years. We love it! I can't recommend this story enough!!!! The big bad pig is a tyrant and the wolves are such ingenious engineers, it makes the Big Bad Pig look even more formidable with his sledgehammer and dynamite. I recently purchased the pop-up version for a friend, but can honestly say I enjoyed reading the ordinary book more than the pop-up version. The pop-ups were very distracting and I think it takes away the energy from the story and the reader becomes disengaged, trying to fiddle with all the contraptions. I vote for the good old-fashioned book version any time!!

Hilarious Remake of the Classic
As a parent with young children who like to be read to every night, it is very easy to quickly approach fifty readings of the same story. It can be painful, and all we as parents can do is try to introduce into the household books that we also appreciate. The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig is absolutely hilarious. There is the obvious role reversal and the introduction of modern building materials for the wolves, such as Plexiglas and video surviellance, and equally destructive tools are available to the big bad pig. The pig is a persistent menace who craftily wields a pneumatic drill and gleefully triggers the dynamite fuse, and it is easy to worry about conveying the wrong message to the kids while laughing so hard that I had to take a composure break. In the end, sensitivity wins over brute force and the positive massage is clear to all, but not before very clever entertainment through great illustrations and witty prose. It so apparent that the authors enjoyed writing this book, as we enjoyed reading it.