The Three Little Pigs Review

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Galdone, Paul. 1970. The Three Little Pigs. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN: 0-395-28813-4.

Paul Galdone's variation of The Three Little Pigs is not "cleaned up" or "Disneyfied" in that the first little pig who builds his house of straw and the second little pig who builds his house of sticks both get eaten by the wolf. And in the end, the wolf gets eaten by the third little pig after climbing down the chimney and falling into the cooking pot. However, in telling the tale of the third little pig who builds his house of bricks, Galdone adds to the story by showing how the wolf is always outsmarted by the little pig which leads to the wolf making his deadly mistake in a fit of anger. When the wolf is unable to huff and puff and blow down the brick house, he tries to trick the pig into going to Mr. Smith's farm to harvest turnips. The pig outsmarts the wolf by going to the farm early and already has a potful of turnips when the wolf arrives at the pig's door to go to the farm. The wolf tries again by offering to take the pig to Merry Garden the next day where an apple tree waits to be picked. Again the pig goes early, but this time the wolf arrives as he is climbing down the tree. Little pig distracts the wolf by throwing an apple as far as he can, then runs home when the wolf chases the apple. Once more the wolf suggests a trip to the pig, this time to the fair. Again, pig sees wolf coming as he travels the path home and this time he hides inside the butter churn he has just bought at the fair. The wolf is so scared by the churn rolling down the hill toward him that he runs home. Later when he goes to pig's house and pig laughs and says he was inside the churn, wolf gets very angry. The end result is the little pig having wolf stew and living happily ever after.

Galdone's retelling of the classic folktale The Three Little Pigs remains true to the archetypes of good and evil, presents clear obstacles for the characters to tackle, and includes the classic "once upon a time" opening and "happily ever after" ending. The message to make wise choices is clear from start to finish as the pigs who make poor housing choices come to a bad end while the pig who uses his wits outsmarts the evil wolf and triumphs in the end. Because Galdone stays true to the origins of the story, this version may not be for very young or easily scared children who may be disturbed by two little pigs and the wolf meeting violent ends.

 Galdone's The Three Little Pigs is a classic in children's literature because it is a wonderful combination of storytelling and illustrations. The detailed ink and wash pictures are beautiful and enliven the story because they match the text on each page almost perfectly. The characters are expressive and clearly represent the good versus evil moral thread while the backgrounds explain the action taking place with each page turn.

Paul Galdone was a prolific illustrator of children's books with 300 titles to his credit including many retellings of classic folktales such as The Three Little Kittens, The Little Red Hen, The Gingerbread Man, and many others. He was awarded the Caldecott Honor for two books written by Eve Titus, Anatole in 1957 and Anatole and the Cat in 1958. He was honored posthumously in 1996 with the Kerlan Award for his contributions to children's literature. 

"All in all, a very appealing edition of a beloved story." School Library Journal
"From Walt Disney to David Weisner, this porcine trio inspires many retellings, but this picture book is faithful without being too gory for young readers." Children's Literature - Elizabeth Fronk

Many connections can be made with Galdone's extensive collection of folktales including an author/illustrator study comparing the titles he illustrated for other authors to his own, reader's theater presentations of his classics, and a comparison of the many versions of The Three Little Pigs from a wide variety of authors like James Marshall, David Wiesner, and Steven Kellogg. And, of course, much fun can be had with alternative versions once the original story is known, like The Three Ninja Pigs, Three Little Cajun Pigs, and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, just to name a few.

Barnes & Noble. Editorial reviews. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-little-pigs-paul-galdone/1100250751?ean=9780899192758. (Accessed September 11, 2013.)

Jacketflap.  http://www.jacketflap.com/paul-galdone/122467. (Accessed September 11, 2013.)

Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. Paul Galdone. http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-484.xml.  (Accessed September 11, 2013.)