'The Three Horrid Little Pigs' written and illustrated by Liz Pichon

Pichon, Liz.  2008.  The Three Horrid Little Pigs.  Ill. by Liz Pichon.  Wilton, CT: Tiger Tales.  ISBN 9781589250772 (hardcover); 9781589254237 (paperback).

Photo by L. Propes

Stop me if you've heard this before: "Little pig, little pig, let me in!  Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin.  Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll BLOW your house down!"  Perhaps the familiarity of the basic story of the Three Pigs lends itself to being the subject of so many variations.  Looney Tunes has no fewer than four animated versions of the Three Pigs.  Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (illustrated by Lane Smith) is well-known to many an elementary classroom, giving the wolf's side of the story.  Liz Pichon's version of the Three Pigs falls neatly into an early elementary classroom that might not be ready to hear Scieszka's version of events.

The Three Horrid Little Pigs begin with three rough-and-tumble pigs who have plucked their poor mother's last nerve, and she throws them out.  The pigs are very lazy.  Instead of actually building houses, they take the path of least resistance: burrowing into a haystack, stacking up a pile of twigs, and moving into a hen house (to the dismay of the hens!).  In each instance, a kindly wolf, who just happens to be skilled in construction, offers to assist the pigs in building a sturdier shelter.  Each time, the wolf is rudely rebuffed by the pigs.  Eventually, the cows in the haystack's field eat the hay, birds take the twigs to build nests, and a rooster pecks and pesters the third pig into leaving the hen house.  The pigs storm to the wolf's house, intent on taking over his house.  But the wolf treats them with kindness, and as the saying goes, you catch more flies, er, pigs, with honey than vinegar.

Photo by: L. Propes

The story is full of parenthetical and aside comments that add to the overall humor of the text.  It starts on the front cover by noting that Pichon, while she wrote about three horrid pigs, is actually very nice.  The comments are small windows that reflect the mood or personality of the character.  The incident where the wolf makes the comment that one of the pigs' behavior is, "charming" (Pichon 14) might make a good moment to explain the concept of irony.  Obviously the pig's behavior is not charming at all.

Photo by: L. Propes

The text changes size and font with the rise and fall of the characters' emotions.  Visual cues are so important to emerging or struggling readers, and this book offers a wealth of them, either with the actual text itself or through the illustrations.

Photo by: L. Propes

The illustrations make this book special.  From beginning to end, the three pigs' evolution from lazy troublemakers to appreciative members of society unfolds in Pichon's drawings.  Each pig's appearance is distinctive: one wears a red, knit cap with matching boots, another has a teal Mohawk haircut, and the third wears a black bowler, striped scarf and black boots.  The cover displays their scowling faces, while one munches on a chocolate-frosted doughnut (with sprinkles!), smears of chocolate covering his face.  As the reader opens the book, the pigs leave a trail of destruction in their wake -- graffiti on trees, apple cores tossed carelessly behind, and doughnut crumbs.  The destruction continues with a photo of Mom that has had a moustache drawn on it and an attempt by the pigs to paint over the word "horrid" on the title page.  The three pigs' expressions are well done, gleeful in their mischief, and disgruntled as they're kicked out of the house.  The wolf is drawn to convey genuine concern and appropriately attired for a job building houses, complete with hardhat and matching tool belt.  Alarm is shown by rounding and enlarging the eyes, and Pichon uses the effect comically with the chickens when the third pig shoves himself into the hen house and as each pig's attempt at shelter falls about their ears.  Pichon keeps the backgrounds neutral, and chooses to focus the reader's attention on the stars of the scene.

Students can compare and contrast this version with other versions of the Three Pigs.  They can act it out as a skit or Readers Theatre.  A teacher or librarian can do close reading activities with classes or small groups.  Classes and review parts of speech or literary devices.  Some classes may also want to include this book in a discussion of appropriate behavior.  Other activities can be found here and here.

Readers might be interested in other books by Liz Pichon: Hot Dogs and Cool Cats, Bored Bill, or Penguins.  There are several versions of the Three Pigs by other authors, the most famous being the aforementioned tale by Scieszka.

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"The full-color cartoon illustrations capture the pigs' bad behavior and comeuppance with a goofy exuberance.  The font size shrinks and enlarges to mirror the action and the text works as a fun read-aloud as well as a read-alone." -- Marge Loch-Wouters, School Library Journal

"This fractured take on the Three Little Pigs is infused with humor and lessons about community and compassion... The lively narrative, printed in playfully arranged text of varying size, is well suited for spirited read-alouds, as are the colourful illustrations that add to the hilarity with expressive characters.  Children will enjoy the clever twist on a familiar story." -- Shelle Rosenfeld, Booklist

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Works Cited:

Loch-Wouters, Marge. 2008. The three horrid little pigs. School Library Journal 54 (10):118. http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=34680142&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Pichon, Liz.  2008.  The Three Horrid Little Pigs.  Ill. by Liz Pichon.  Wilton, CT: Tiger Tales.

Rosenfield, Shelle. 2008. The three horrid little pigs. Booklist 105 (3).