Review by Booklist Review
As in Goldilocks and the Three Bears: A Tale Moderne (2000), Guarnaccia combines a delightfully fractured fairy tale with an ultrastylish, kid-friendly primer of twentieth-century design. Here, each of the three little pigs is a porcine doppelgänger for a world-famous architect: Frank Gehry (who lives in a house of scraps), Philip Johnson (whose house is glass), and Frank Lloyd Wright, whose sturdy, brick Fallingwater becomes the pigs' refuge from the wolf. The story works without the sophisticated references, but the endpapers, printed with design icons featured on the pages, provide a fun, interactive game and will pique kids' interest in the subject.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Guarnaccia (Goldilocks and the Three Bears: A Tale Moderne) models the familiar piggy homebuilders on Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The three leave their mother's home-a bungalow styled after Charles and Henry Greene's Gamble House-to design their own structures. The Gehry pig (not yet the Gehry who designs swooping, iridescent pavilions) builds a 1970s style "house of scraps" that a spiky-haired, leather-jacketed wolf gladly deconstructs. The Johnson pig, identifiable by his black-framed spectacles, creates a glass house that the punk wolf reduces to shards. The pigs run to their brother's house of "stone and concrete," a Fallingwater look-alike that the wolf cannot budge. (If the wolf went after the cantilevering system, this tale might end differently.) Of the trio, Guarnaccia favors Wright, and the puckish architect outwits the wolf on several occasions. He plays to design fans, decorating the pigs' homes with objects by the likes of Noguchi and Starck, and his endpapers provide a visual index to the allusions. Without a background in "starchitects," though, children will need a design history lesson to appreciate this retelling. Ages 4-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
In this retelling, the pigs are modeled after modern starchitects, with Gehry's shock of white hair, Johnson's round black glasses, and Wright's mid-twentieth-century attire. Appropriately, their respective homes are made of scraps, glass, and stone and concrete. Modern architectural works are incorporated into the clever illustrations (endpapers provide a key). Kids probably won't get the references, but design aficionados will appreciate the humor. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Porkers in glass houses shouldn't meet wolves. One day, the three impeccably dressed pigs tuck their drafting tools under their arms and leave their impressive house (the Gamble House, by Greene and Greene) in the woods, waving goodbye to Mother. The first builds a house of scraps (sheet metal and fence pieces and woodit's the Gehry House); the second of glass (Philip Johnson's Glass House); the third of stone and concrete (Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater). Evil wolf, in boots, black leather jacket and shades, rides in on a motorcycle. He makes quick work of the first two houses, but the third proves challenging. Before wolf meets his end coming down the chimney, he and the third pig have a couple of encounters at Frank's Flea Market and Johnson's Farm that parallel the original tale. Guarnaccia's illustrations are quirky and stylish, incorporating notable 20th- and 21st-century architecture and interior design elements (the key is on the endpapers). His text lags the illustrations in hipness, though. And why, in this time of eco-consciousness, does he disdain the recycled house of scraps? (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
