Sunday, August 14, 2016

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka


Rating: 

I remember being introduced to this book when I was in 7th grade by my civics teacher. She is a lawyer and during that period she wanted to showcase what lawyers do in the courtroom and the jargon terms they use when they prosecute and defend their client. She used this book as the basis and had students play the characters and I was the jury member. 

While the students were epic failures in dealing with the court case I treasured this story because everyone and their mother knows the story of the Three Little Pigs and its interesting to see a different point and view and my teacher made this court case look like the O.J. Simpson trial for kids (Plus no one knew the details of who O.J. Simpson was just that he was a football player who murdered his wife and got away with it). 

The narrator is the Big Bad Wolf and he mentions how most people know his story but not the facts. Immediately based on the tone of his voice and dialogue I feel as though it may be innocent but he becomes a unreliable narrator and that makes the story that much entertaining. We learn that he was making a cake for his grandmother (Who looks remarkably similar to Little Red Riding Hood so it's possible he's lying and he disguised himself as his granny) and needed a cup of sugar so he went to his neighbors which so happens to be one of the pigs and did I mention he has a cold? Well the straw triggered his sinuses and he blew down the house and killing the pig.

It uses this excuse for his actions until finally he meets the final pig who lives in the brick house and the rest is history and you learn the outcome of his story in the end. I was entranced by this story and I wish this could have been the prototype to a longer story because I would love to see the trial and learn what his lawyers used as defense and who were the jury. Plus this book brings up an interesting aspect as to whether does it stay true to the original fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood? The wolf gets killed by the ax in that story but the author didn't include it in this book then it possible that the wolf is the same one who tried to kill Little Red and her grandmother. 

This book is great for all ages especially for the curious kids and it would be fascinating if family members or even teachers made this story into a court case like my civic teacher because for one its educational to learn how our court works, our rights as civilians, and it's fun to create a story and try to defend it while the other team is trying to discredit your alibi.

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