Alexander T. Wolf finally gets to tell his version of what really happened that fateful day when two little pigs met an untimely demise in The True Story of the 3Little Pigs! Jon Scieszka serves as the mouthpiece of Mr. A. Wolf in this fractured fairy tale loosely based on the original. In this version, Al is preparing a birthday cake for his dear old granny, in spite of the fact that he�s suffering from �a terrible sneezing cold.� When he runs out of sugar, he goes to borrow some from his nearest neighbor, a dim-witted pig who has built his house of straw. Suffering a sudden sneezing fit, he inadvertently blows the house over, leaving the pig �dead as a doornail.� A similar scenario is repeated at the home of the second little porker, where Mr. Wolf has his second ham dinner of the day. Still needing a cup of sugar, Al proceeds to the home of the victims� brother, �the brains of the family,� who has built his home of brick. When this pig insults Granny Wolf, Al becomes enraged and tries to break the door down. This is the scene the pig police find when they arrive on the scene, and poor Mr. Wolf ends up in the Pig Penn, the victim of a frame job.
The illustrations of Lane Smith serve to enlarge on the story, providing details not included in the narrative. Bunny ears protruding from the cake mix and tiny tails and paws hanging from between the burger buns belie the good-guy image of Mr. Wolf. We see a lean, dapper fellow, in pinstripes and bow-tie, set off to see the neighbors, and a bloated �pig� of a wolf headed to house number three. Smith�s expressionist images are rendered in watercolor, with cover art cleverly designed to simulate a front-page newspaper story, complete with pig hoof preparing to turn the page.
The title page art provides a visual synopsis of the story, with straw and twigs in a measuring cup, sitting atop a brick. Art is incorporated into the text, as well, with letters built of everything from bricks, straw, twigs and link-sausages to pig and wolf body parts. The artist manages to depict a sneeze as powerful as a nuclear reaction in a double-page spread, followed by a scene of a barren wasteland, with only a round pink bottom poking from the rubble. The illustrations magnify the traits of the characters, as Mr. Wolf would like to have the reader see them.
Although the original story of the three little pigs is true to the genre, several differences earmark this as a fractured version. The characters are not the typical stereotypes: the wolf is an innocent who has been framed, and the pigs are stupid, rude, and mean. The threatening image of a malevolent pig glaring out the window at the sickly wolf, ears sagging and eyelids drooping, reverse the roles of the traditional fairy tale characters. The setting is modern-day rather than �once upon a time,� and right does not win out in the end, when the �innocent� A. Wolf winds up wrongfully imprisoned.
The text and drawings, funny in themselves, are hysterical in combination. Phrases like �dead as a doornail,� �wolf�s honor,� �rude little porker,� and �your old granny can sit on a pin!� are unexpected and delightful. The humor in this story will be appreciated by adults and older children as well as younger ones. When tested on a group of stodgy grownups, this book got belly laughs and enthusiastic thumbs-ups all around!
Related Web Sites:
Baloney: http://www.baloneyhenryp.com
Make your own 3 Little Pigs Story at Wacky Web Tales: http://www.eduplace.com/tales