Traditional Folktale

Galdone, Paul C. THE THREE LITTLE PIGS. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970.
 ISBN: 0-395-28813-4

Author: 

Paul Galdone was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1907 and immigrated to the United States in 1928. During his early career Galdone worked in the art department at Doubleday where he designed a successful book jacket. The experience led him to believe that he could make a living as a freelance illustrator. Galdone received Caldecott Honors for Eve Titus' picture books Anatole and Anatole and the Cat. Though he was always an artist, he didn't illustrate his first picture book until 1957, when he was 40 years old. From 1957 until his death in 1986, Galdone illustrated and/or wrote more than 300 books. While Galdone's pictures are well-suited for classroom story time (easily seen by the child in the back row), they also beg closer inspection to see the small details he always included in his work. Paul Galdone died in 1986.

Plot Summary:
The book opens with the mother pig sending her three young pigs off into the world to find their fortune.  The story sticks very close to the traditional tale that most people have heard about the three pigs.  The first pig builds his house of straw, the second pig builds his house of sticks, and the third pig builds his house of bricks.  The wolf visits each house starting with the first pig.  He huffs and puffs and easily blows down the house of straw and sticks which ends with the wolf eating the two pigs.  When the wolf gets to the third pig's house, the bricks give him trouble so he tries to out smart the pig in a number of ways but none of them work. He finally just decides to climb down the chimney which leads to his death and the pig eats him.

Critical Analysis:
Paul Galdone stays close to Joseph Jacobs version of story but the illustrations make this book a delight to read.  The story starts with "Once upon a time" and ends with "lived happily ever after" which adds to the traditional feel.The illustrations keep the story flowing which makes it very easy to read. Kids will love the emotion on the animals faces and will be able to tell the good/evil characters by the words and illustrations.  This tale is great for teaching folktales since it not only has the beginning and ending that are very common for folktales but it also has easy repetitive verses such as "not by the hair of my chinny chin chin" and "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow you house in" which gives it a good rhythm for children.  The number three is common for many folktales which is easily seen with the "Three Pigs". Brainstorming other folktales that have the number three can be easily discussed before or after reading. 
                          

Connections:
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (compare/contrast stories)
The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall


The Three Pigs by David Wiesner
"The Three Little Pigs", a poem by Ronald Dahl (very fun to read)

Reviews:
Small touches — the framed illustrations of each pig building his house, the portraits of Mama and his two brothers on the third little pig’s wall, and the four-leaf clovers hidden on the dust jacket and in the end papers — help make for a balanced, sunnily attractive picture book. SHERYL B. ANDREWS (Horn Book 1970)

Once more the Three Little Pigs set out to seek thier fortune, this time in a bright new interpretation based on the Jacobs version of the classic tale. The pleasure of a book like this comes from seeing what variations an outstanding illustrator will work on familiar material. Paul Galdone emphasizes the pattern of threes in the story, and achieves a true picture book flow and balance between text and illustrations.- Christianbook.com