"The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs was written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is a children's fractured fairy tale. The story is a new take on and old familiar tale of the three little pigs. The story is about how the original three little pigs story is actually all wrong. Mr. Wolf is trying to clear his name in the story by telling readers that the news got it all wrong. He isn't the big bad wolf he was portrayed to be but rather a victim here because he was just out trying to borrow a cup of sugar to bake his dear old granny a birthday cake.  

This is an extremely humorous story that shows that there are always more than one side to a story. The illustrations in The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs are very detailed and relevant to the text. I think that the illustrations are very important to the story especially the front cover depicting the Daily Wolf newspaper with Mr. Wolf's side to the story and the Daily Pig story which of course shows the side of the story that looks good for the pigs. One of my favorite images in the story is one of just Mr. Alexander T. Wolf he is made to look like a sweet little wolf who couldn't harm a fly. With his suit on and reading glasses, he looks like someones grandpa.

The interest level for The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is intended for Kindergarten- Third Grade. However in my opinion this story can really be applied to and enjoyed by all ages. This story can be used as a literature aid to show that every story has multiple perspectives or points of view. And the fact that this is a fractured fairy tale teachers can use that to teach students about what a fractured fairy tale is. Some of the literary devices found in the story The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs are flashback, and the story is a narrative.

Classroom Application:

Critical Thinking Preliminary and Post Reading Questions

• Before teachers begin reading The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs to students they should begin by showing students the cover of the book a long with a few images to get them thinking about what the story might be about. Another good image to choose to go along with the cover of the book would be the image of Mr. Wolf in jail and also the image of the Daily Pig.
  Teachers should ask questions about the chosen images to get the students engaged and problem solving. Some question that could be asked include: What do you think this story is going to be about?, Why do you think the wolf is in prison?, Why are there two newspapers talking about Mr. Wolf?, What do you think the true story of the three little pigs is?,Why do you think Mr. Wolf is wearing glasses?, etc.
• After reading The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs teachers should expand on the reading by asking questions that will get students thinking about the future and what happened in the story. For example: Do you think that people believe Mr. Wolf or the pigs?, What persons view point was the story told in and give an example to defend your response?, What did you like most about the story, or least? etc. 

Demonstrating Cause and Effect

• Why do you think that Mr. Wolf got put in prison?
• Do you know what happen to each of the pigs?
• Do you think Mr. Wolf's grandma will ever get her birthday cake?
• Why do you think the pigs wouldn't open the door for Mr. Wolf?

Character Analysis

• Describe Alexander T. Wolf? 
• Describe the pigs? 
• What do the Mr. Wolf and the pigs have in common?

Personal Connections

• Teachers should ask students what things from the story they can relate to their own lives. For example baking a cake for their grandma, being involved in a case where they had their own side of a story and someone else disagreed about what actually happened, someone not sharing, reading the newspaper,etc.

Sequencing Skills

• Teachers can expand on student sequencing skills by asking students to draw several pictures about their favorite parts of the story and then having them put their pictures in order of how they occurred in the story. 

Summarizing the Story

• The teacher can call on students to help summarizing what happened in the story they just read. The teacher should ask each student to add to the summary before summarizing herself/himself about what happened in the story. 

Theme

• The teacher should ask students to write down what they think the purpose or theme of the story was. It could have been there are always multiple sides to a story, etc.

Interactive Fun

• I think it would be nice if it is possible for the teacher and a counter part to act out the story of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs for the class or create an interactive video that might draw them in and then read the story. I found a video online of someone reading the story and  it seems like something students would really enjoy and it would give them another visual element to relate back to the story. 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m75aEhm-BYw