Review by Booklist Review
Alexander Wolf gives his side of the famous story in this wickedly illustrated and sophisticated retelling.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this gaily newfangled version of a classic tale, Scieszka and Smith ( Flying Jake ) argue in favor of the villain, transforming the story of the three little pigs into a playfully suspicious, rather arch account of innocence beleaguered. Quoth the wolf: ``I don't know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all wrong.'' According to his first-person testimony, the wolf went visiting the pigs in search of a neighborly cup of sugar; he implies that had the first two happened to build more durable homes and the third kept a civil tongue in his head, the wolf's helpless sneezes wouldn't have toppled them. As for his casual consumption of the pigs, the wolf defends it breezily (``It seemed like a shame to leave a perfectly good ham dinner lying there in the straw'') and claims cops and reporters ``framed'' him. Smith's highly imaginative watercolors eschew realism, further updating the tale, though some may find their urbane stylization and intentionally static quality mystifyingly adult. Designed with uncommon flair, this alternative fable is both fetching and glib. Ages 3-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
George Ancona and Mary Beth Miller Handtalk Zoo Illustrated with photographs by George Ancona. Molly Bang, Illustrator The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher A Caldecott Honor Book. Janina Domanska, Author-Illustrator If All the Seas Were One Sea A Caldecott Honor Book. Lois Ehlert, Author-Illustrator Feathers for Lunch Denise Fleming, Author-Illustrator Lunch Kevin Henkes, Author-Illustrator Sheila Rae, the Brave Lois Lenski Sing a Song of People Illustrated by Giles Laroche. Margaret Mahy The Great White Man-Eating Shark Illustrated by Jonathan Allen. Helen Oxenbury, Author-Illustrator It's My Birthday Jon Scieszka The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! Illustrated by Lane Smith. Mary Wormell, Author-Illustrator Hilda Hen's Happy Birthday From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
One of life's more important lessons is that a second view of the same events may yield a story that is entirely different from another but equally ""true."" As Alexander Wolf tells his story, he was innocently trying to borrow a cup of sugar from a little pig when he sneezed so hard that the pig's obviously inadequate straw house fell down and killed him, so--rather than let all that good ham go to waste--the wolf ate him. But when the third little pig, safe in his brick house, not only refused to discuss loaning sugar but was rude about the wolf's Granny, the wolf tried to force the door, the pig called the cops, and the wolf was jailed--complaining that reporters blew the story all out of proportion and that he was framed. Scieszka carries off this revision with suitably mordant humor, ably reflected in Smith's dark, elegantly sophisticated illustrations. Not for little children, but middle grades and up should be entertained while taking the point about the unreliability of witnesses. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
