"The Story of the Three Little Pigs"

Title: "The Story of the Three Little Pigs"
Author: Joseph Jacobs
Illustrator: Lorinda Bryan Cauley
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1980
Genre: Traditional Tale
Grade: 2-3

This story is about a mother pig who sends her three sons off to fend for themselves. The first little pig went and bought some straw and built himself a straw house. The big bad wolf came up and blew the straw house down and gobbled up the pig. The wolf then went on to the second pig's house, which was made of furze, and destroyed it and gobbled up the big. The wolf then goes to the third pig in his brick house and asks the pig to go gather turnips and apples with him, but in both cases the pig was already gone and back home before the wolf came. The wolf then threatens to blow down the house but when he can't do that he decides to come down the chimney. The pig moves a pot of boiling water under the chimney, so the wolf falls in and the pig has wolf to eat.

"The Three Little Pigs" has always been one of my favorite tales. This is actually the version I am most familiar with. I love the illustrations in this book. The colors that Cauley uses are so bright. There are no dull colors in the book. I also enjoy the pictures of the wolf blowing down the houses. Cauley does a great job of making it look like the wolf is right there with you blowing down the house.

I would use this story in my folktale unit. This would be a great book to read different versions of and have my students compare and contrast. I would have my students to read a number of different tales and have them to pick their favorite and do a venn-diagram of it. I could also read this story to my students and have them to write me a story with their own twists.