Big, Bad, and Hilarious

Moser, Barry. 2001. THE THREE LITTLE PIGS. New York: Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 0316585440

It’s hard to imagine what more could be done with this well-known beast tale, but Barry Moser rises to the challenge. Gillian Engberg (2001) said in her review for Booklist that it is a “solid, humorous retelling,” and that “Moser stays close to the traditional story.” I agree completely. The popular refrains are all here, from “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin” to all of the huffing and puffing by the big bad wolf.

The story begins with the three pigs going in different directions when they leave home on Valentine’s Day. The first pig finds a man with straw, and uses this to build its house. True to the folktale, the wolf blows the straw house down and eats the foolish pig. The second pig, less foolish but no luckier, obtains wood to build its house. Once again, the wolf blows the house down and eats the second pig. The third pig, far wiser than the other two, builds its house from bricks. The wolf cannot blow it down, so he attempts to trick the pig into coming outside. The pig makes the wolf look foolish in his attempts, and the wolf is so incensed that he climbs down the chimney into a boiling pot. The third pig then eats the wolf, and “was never troubled by a wolf again.”

The lighthearted style of the illustrations helps tone down what is essentially a violent story. Moser uses a variety of humorous elements throughout the story, like the bag of “Wolfe Pruf Cement” the third pig uses to construct its brick house. When the wolf eats the second pig, we see empty bottles of sauce at his side that say things like “Excellent on Pork!” The third pig has a book by its chimney with the words “Harley Rhode Hogg’s Wolf Cook” written on the spine. Overall, the illustrations embody a whimsical, lighthearted mood and accurately captures the raucous emotions that change with each page. The pigs do everything from pick noses to break wind, while the anger of the wolf at the end is captured in vivid detail. And while I understand the choice of Moser to have the wolf fall into the pot ‘off stage’ and not illustrate that moment specifically, I think a picture of the wolf at least entering the chimney could have given the story a fuller rendering.

My ten-year-old daughter, who is quite familiar with this story, was old enough to notice many of the humorous elements in the illustration I mentioned earlier. After spotting the first one, she looked for them throughout the rest of the book. It gave a new twist for her on an old story. She particularly liked the last page where the pig is wearing wolf slippers as it drains a bowl of "wolf stew." My five-year-old daughter was content with repeating familiar phrases and laughing at the funny faces the characters made throughout. This is great read that I highly recommend.

Engberg, Gillian. 2001. Booklist 97(19). June 1. Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database, Texas Woman’s University. http://ezproxy.twu.edu:4529/index.php/bookdetail/index?page=1&pos=0&isbn=3165854457732