The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

Very wholesome and clever! Good illustrations, sweet moral, fun subversion of the original story.

The story of the Three Little Pigs has been around for years and years and few children, nor adults, for that matter do not know of it. Here we have the roles of the "bad guy" completely reversed. The kids love this one and think it is truely funny. I did like the fact that the wolves did not receive the bad press that they normally receive in such tales and I did like the fact that even though the Big Bad Pig was truely bad in the beginning, he did indeed have redeeming features. The illustrations were great and the text followed the illustrations perfectly. This is a fun book to read to the class. I highly recommend this one.

As a kid, I loved wolves and hated the Three Little Pigs. So this funny, wolf-friendly revision of the creepy old classic really tickles me! It begins with Mama Wolf sending her doting pups off into the wide world with the warning: "Beware of the Big Bad Pig!" Keeping Mama's message in mind, the trio decides to build a strong house for protection from the boorish boar. The three fluffy, friendly, refined little wolves are never named, but I like to call them Frasier, Niles, and Daphne. The pig, a burly bully of a construction-worker, could be named Brutus. Safe in the yard of their new brick home, the little wolves play a spirited game of squash. Suddenly the swaggering swine shows up! In a reversal of the original tale, the Big Bad Pig pounds on the wolves' door and demands to come in, while they quaver, "Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chins!" Then, using his construction hardware, the pig destroys the brick house, and the wolves flee with their fluffy tails between their legs! As the three little wolves build progressively massive fortresses, the big bad pig employs heavy ground-breaking and demolitions equipment to smash them to rubble. At last, the little wolves have no materials left with which to build, except -- ah, but I'm not going to give away the surprise! Let's just say, the ending is a lot sweeter than the original. No one gets boiled alive or devoured, and the the classic adversaries even become friends. Kids and parents will love the beautiful artwork and the silliness of the story, although the ending might seem just a bit too saccharine after all the destruction and mayhem.

What a wonderful book this is, turning the traditional story upside down. Other authors have done this, but Eugene Trivizas is particularly clever and Helen Oxenbury?s drawings capture the personalities very well. The role reversal is easy enough, but Trivizas adds layers of humor with his descriptions of the wolves and the pig. The ?three cuddly little wolves with soft and furry tales? enjoy such genteel pursuits as croquet, battledore, and shuttlecock, and the big bad pig uses a sledgehammer, a pneumatic drill, and dynamite to destroy the very study houses. There?s a wonderful paradoxical ending (the house made of flowers is the strongest), just one of the many creative twists and turns to the traditional story. Despite the pig?s potent methods of destruction, no animals are hurt (except for some slightly scorched tales) in the book.

My husband had hoped to sheild our daughters from the normal telling of this tale because he loves the story so much. The wolves are very creative, and portrayed much as wolves really are; pack animals just trying to live their lives in their nice house(s). The pig, well, pigs really can be quite brutal, and *would* go after peace-loving wolves. Fortunately, the wolves inadvertently discover how to appeal to the lighter side of the pig and make peace. The other animal characters are very well drawn and I especially like the "kind-hearted rhino". There are nice plays on words that I missed on the first readings, and the illustrations are appealing. We really like the house that gets blown up by the pig "who wasn't called big and bad for nothing".

As a parent with young children who like to be read to every night, it is very easy to quickly approach fifty readings of the same story. It can be painful, and all we as parents can do is try to introduce into the household books that we also appreciate. The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig is absolutely hilarious. There is the obvious role reversal and the introduction of modern building materials for the wolves, such as Plexiglas and video surviellance, and equally destructive tools are available to the big bad pig. The pig is a persistent menace who craftily wields a pneumatic drill and gleefully triggers the dynamite fuse, and it is easy to worry about conveying the wrong message to the kids while laughing so hard that I had to take a composure break. In the end, sensitivity wins over brute force and the positive massage is clear to all, but not before very clever entertainment through great illustrations and witty prose. It so apparent that the authors enjoyed writing this book, as we enjoyed reading it.