The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

Rating:
Summary: A wolf-friendly revision!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Remake of the Classic
Review: 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.

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Summary: hysterical new twist on an old theme
Review: I was looking at this book in our school library when a fellow teacher leaned over my shoulder, read the title, and said, "Oh, no! I bet this one is hysterical!"

She was right.

The obvious role-reversal of Wolf and Pig in the retelling of this old classic is sure to make any child giggle even before the book is opened. Once you DO start reading it, stand back! Three cuddly little wolves are sent by their mother out into the world to make their way (mom is painting her nails black and has curlers in her hair and tail--a very nice touch!). The three wolves, in a departure from the original tale, borrow some bricks from a passing kangaroo and build a sturdy brick house.

All goes well and they're out in the garden playing croquet when the Big, Bad Pig comes sauntering along. The wolves hid inside, won't let him in, and the Big Bad Pig tries to blow the house down.

He cant, of course. The house is brick! But, "the pig wasn't called big and bad for nothing. He went and fetched his sledgehammer and knocked the house down." The illustrations by Ms. Oxenbury of the pig smashing the walls with a hammer while the wolves flee through a window is worth the cost of the book alone. But, wait! There's MORE!

They build a succession of stronger houses, each which is demolished by the pig (he uses a pneumatic hammer and dynamite). Only when they try to change their tactics and make a house of FLOWERS does the pig change his ways and see how destructive and obnoxious he was.

This is a marvelous book, and no mistake. There are probably a good 200 versions of the Three Little Pigs, many of which end with the grisly death of the wolf. In the Three Little Wolves, not only is the reader immediately hooked on the role reversal of wolf and pig, but the text and illustrations are simply hysterical and the peaceful ending make it far more enjoyable than the original fable. This is a book that should be in everyone's library!!

Rating:
Summary: Clever but the ending disturbs me
Review: The book begins as a clever retelling of the classic Three Little Pigs. The pigs and the wolves have changed parts, and the building materials have been upgraded, but the classic story remains...the big bad pig is coming to destroy the home that the wolves have worked so hard to build. But in this story, the big bad pig is prepared to blow the house down no matter how well it is built and the attacks escallate. Explosives are launched, once again their home is completely obliterated, and the wolves "just managed to escape with their fluffy tails scorched". At this point, the wolves have resigned themselves to the fact that the pig will never leave them alone and it's no use to build again. They go off to live in the open and plant a few sweet smelling flowers.

It isn't long before the big bad pig reappears, but this time he's subdued both by the pretty flowers and by the fact there's no longer a home asking to be obliterated, and the weary wolves invite the pig to live with them happily ever after. What's the moral of the story? If you find yourself being terrorized and victimized, the fiend that's after you really wants to be friends with you if only you'll share? Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but I think this would be a very unhealthy message for children who haven't been blessed with story-book perfect lives of their own and who may have a big bad pig or two in their own lives to contend with.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent remake of the original story, fullof fun stuff
Review: The three little wolves and the big bad pig tells the classic story of the three litttle pigs and th big bad wolf, with a few twists. Instead of three little pigs, three little wolves have to contend with the treacherous big bad pig. The wolves also use nonconventional methods to build their houses, and the pig uses it's modern ways to knock them down.
The antics of the wolves making houses out of brick, cement, and metal, as well as the pig destroy their hard work with a sleedgehammer, pnuematic drill, and dynamite, controls most of the comical antics of this story. The zaniness of the events that occur will leave the reader laugh and imbued with happiness.
While containing many modern elements, the three little wolves and the big bad pig still contains classic yet crucial parts of the original tale. for instance, in the beginning, the three are told to go make a life for themselves by their mother, as well as the huffing, the puffing, and blowing the house in.
From page to page, this well-written book will make you think you know the ending, but surprise you with a totally different one! The story won't keep you on the edge of your seat, but rather on the floor laughing at this hilarious book. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Flower Power
Review: 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.