The three little pigs

Steven Kellogg

Book - 1997

In this retelling of a well-known tale, Serafina Sow starts her own waffle-selling business in order to enable her three offspring to prepare for the future, which includes an encounter with a surly wolf.

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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
New York : Morrow Junior Books 1997.
Language
English
Main Author
Steven Kellogg (-)
Physical Description
unpaged : ill
ISBN
9780064437790
9780688087326
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Ages 5^-8. Just as the pig family in this story soups up their old waffle iron with four wheels and various tanks, pipes, and hoses, so Kellogg takes a favorite folk tale and adds his own inventive touches of character, plot twists, and humor. Serafina Sow supports her three little pigs with her traveling waffle business, but when the children graduate from Hog Hollow Academy, she retires to the Gulf of Pasta and turns the business over to the next generation. Percy builds a straw bungalow, Pete a log cabin, and Prudence a brick cottage. When Tempesto the wicked wolf looks at the waffle menu and orders piglet, the traditional tale is off and running, with some entirely new details and no apologies to anyone. Much of the broad humor is carried in the lively, colorful illustrations, though there's wordplay aplenty in the text and pictures too: Tempesto slides down the chimney, lands on the waffle iron, is blasted with maple syrup, smothered in butter, and turned into a "WOLFFLE." Just as Serafina's customers flock to The Wheeled Wafflery, so children will greet Kellogg's latest picture book with eagerness based on memories of his many satisfying books. Pure pleasure for Kellogg fans. --Carolyn Phelan

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Buoyant pictures and a pun-riddled text add gusto to Kellogg's lighthearted humor as he gives this classic caper more twists than are found in the average pig's tail. Pushing her waffle-making machine from "hamlet to hamlet," industrious Serafina Sow makes enough money to send her three little pigs‘a daughter and two sons‘to Hog Hollow Academy. When she retires, the educated piglets build their fabled houses and run the wafflery until Tempesto the wolf (wearing a "Say Yes to Thugs" sweatshirt) arrives and instructs them to "butter yourselves and hop on the griddle." Serafina returns to bail out her brood and, in a final play on words, answers Tempesto's threat that "You'll soon be sausages!" with a triumphant "You'll soon be a WOLFFLE!" But the wry tale ends on a sunny note: rather than becoming brunch, this not-so-bad wolf gets to swap places with Serafina on a remote beach, sporting a new shirt (shown on the back cover) that proclaims "Thugs Need Hugs Too." Kids will have a jolly time poring over the particulars in the illustrations. And their mothers will cheer for Kellogg's decision to let his porcine matriarch hog the show. Ages 5-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3‘This contemporary retelling features Serafina Sow, whose mission in life is to bring waffles to the world. After building a highly successful wafflery, she retires to the Gulf of Pasta, leaving the family business in the hands of her capable offspring, Percy, Pete, and Prudence. The three operate the business and build themselves comfortable homes of straw, wood, and brick, of course. Enter Tempesto, a thugish, leather-jacketed wolf. He orders the three pigs to cook themselves‘he isn't interested in waffles. Kellogg's usual busy, highly defined illustrations complement the humorous, clever text. In the satisfying, nonfatal ending, Serafina Sow returns from retirement to help her children defeat Tempesto, who has the meanness steamed out of him after coming down the chimney into the waffle iron. He is sent to the Gulf of Pasta in Serafina's place, where he spends his days as a mellow beach bum. A tempting choice to pair with Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking, 1989) and your favorite traditional version for porcine storytime fun.‘Lisa Falk, Palos Verdes Library, CA (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

Having raised three piglets with the money from her ingenious waffle cart, Serafina Sow retires, only to come rushing to the rescue when a wolf hoodlum threatens her children. As is characteristic in Kellogg's books, humorous details abound in both text and illustrations. Though the humor is not on the level we've come to expect from Kellogg, fans will be pleased with the wackiness of the story. From HORN BOOK 1997, (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

Kellogg (I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago, 1996, etc.) puts a master's spin on another familiar tale. These three pigs can afford to build new houses with profits reaped from their mother's mobile waffle business, which they inherit when Serafina Sow retires to the Gulf of Pasta. Tempesto, the big bad wolf (sporting a leather jacket and engineer boots), doesn't care about waffles; he sees the pigs as ham, bacon, and sausage. After devastating their straw and wood homes, he creates a hot-air balloon out of a garbage bag to descend down the chimney of the brick house. Luckily, Serafina pulls herself out of retirement just in time to stick the waffle grill under the descending wolf's bottom--a ``wolffle.'' As usual, Kellogg's illustrations add to the story; intrepid readers will have fun finding art on the wall by Pablo Pigasso, perusing the long list of waffle flavors (among them, baloney and bubblegum), and giggling at the wolf's shirt, which sports slogans--at first, ``Say Yes to Thugs,'' and later, ``Thugs Need Hugs Too.'' A talent-strewn retelling that only enhances the original. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9)

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.