Book Talk with Activity
Title: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
Author/Illustrator: By Jon Scieszka Illustrated by Lane Smith
Publish Date: January 1991
ISBN#: 0-590-44357-7
Cover: I would let them observe the cover pictures. I would have them identify the title, author, and illustrator. I would ask them if they could summarize the classic story of the three little pigs. Maybe even predict what they think this version is about.
Summary: This story redefines the original story of the three little pigs. It is told by the wolf’s perspective. His side of the story goes as follows. He claims he was making a cake for his grandmother’s birthday. He ran out of sugar and decided to ask his neighbor. His first neighbor was a pig with a house made out of straw and as he knocking on the door, his allergies kicked in and he sneezed. This knocked the house down, and the pig was dead inside, so he couldn’t leave a perfectly good dinner laying there, so he ate it. The second one was a similar situation, and the last one in the brick house refused to give him sugar. The pig insulted the wolf’s grandmother and he didn’t take too kindly to that. So he tried to break down the door when the cops pulled up. He was arrested and the media was the ones who blew the story out of proportion. He claimed he was framed.
Pages to stop and ask questions:
Page 4: Do you think this is the real story? Could there be another perspective?
Page 6: What do you notice about the ingredients inside of the bowl?
Page 7: What kind of attitude does he have about his neighbor?
Page 11: Would a sneeze really be that strong? Does this seem reasonable? Have them think about if they believe this side of the story is correct.
Page 15: Does he like this neighbor more or less?
Page 21: Does the wolf make himself look like the good guy or bad guy? Do you think it was really his allergies?
Extension Questions:
Does this story sound believable? Is there always more than one side of the story? What is something that you took away from this story? Should you always believe what just one person says, or look at both sides?
Vocabulary:
Huffed: Blow loudly, to puff
Jazzed: Having been made more interesting
Nonsense: chinny chin chin; porker
Activity Lesson Plan: Creative Writing
Supplies:
o Notebook paper
o pencil
Directions:
1. Just like there are two sides to this story, let’s write from another character’s perspective of another classic story. The children will choose a story from the list below.
2. Little Red Riding Hood
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Jack and the Beanstalk
Goldilocks
Gingerbread Man
3. They will write a version of the story from the perspective of a secondary character. They will pick one character from the story, that is not the main character, and write a narrative from the character’s perspective that they chose.
4. This activity is geared for third or fourth grade students, they will write at least half a page. This activity will take 45 minutes.