Caldecott Medal Winner "The Three Pigs" by David Wiesner

                “The Three Pigs” by David Wiesner is a Caldecott Medal winning book.  Throughout this book, Wisner uses creative illustrating techniques.  The book begins with the classic three little pigs story.  As the story continues, the pigs “escape” from the regular story book and begin to explore other stories.  Characters from other stories join the pigs as they continue to journey through other story books.

                When I first began reading this book, I thought it was going to be just a basic retelling of the classic story.  I really enjoyed this book because of the creative thinking that was involved in creating the illustrations and story line.   The fact that the pigs were able to “escape” from their own story captivated my attention and kept me wondering what would happen next.  I also enjoyed the contrast between the old storybook illustrations and the “escaped” illustrations.  The contrast made it easier to see which characters were still in the storybooks and which ones had come out.

                The library media specialist at my school highly recommended “The Three Pigs” to me.  He explained how creative the illustrations were to me.  I think that talking to him before I read the book made me more excited and intrigued into the illustrations and story line than I would have been if I hadn’t talked to him.  I think that my positive reaction to the book was impacted by my conversation with the LMS before I actually read through the text.

                The style of the illustrations in this book reminded me quite a bit of David Wiesner’s other Caldecott winning book, “Flotsam.”  On one page, Wiesner even used the same fish that he included in “Flotsam.”  In both books, Wiesner demonstrates a creative perspective of a somewhat simple event.  He thinks outside of the box when creating books.  In turn, his books become engaging and interesting because of his unique perspectives!

                In reading “The Three Pigs,” I learned that thinking outside the box is important in creating an engaging story.  I was amazed at the creativity that was included in a “simple children’s book.”  “The Three Pigs” taught me that characters in a book can truly come alive to the reader if they are developed in the right way.  This text would be great to use in teaching children to think outside of the box when they are creating a narrative.