Vicky Rubin

I thought this was a hilarious take on "The Three Little Pigs". The the three pigs in this story were jazz musicians. They were so popular that the wolf found out where they were going to be playing. The story takes an alternative ending where when the wolf arrives, the pigs invite him to sing on stage. He was so flattered and so excited that he forgot that he wanted to eat them. After singing on stage he finds that that is his true calling! This book was so funny. The illustrations added show more character and humor. I loved this book. show less

I really liked this book for two prominent reasons. The first reason I liked this book was for its eye-catching use of onomatopoeia. On several pages throughout the book, the author included some funky onomatopoeia that was written in colorful and different fonts. For example, on the second page of the book, as one of the little pigs played his saxophone, the sound that came out was “scat-scooby-dooby, scat-scooby-dooby, skit-scat-skedoodle, shoooo!” and the font was written in blue, show more yellow and green font with each word printed in a different font and size. I loved this aspect of the book because it not only helped me imagine the sounds coming out of the instruments throughout the book, but it also prompted me to look at the entire page of illustrations which made me feel more engaged and enthralled with the funny story. The second reason I liked this book was for its creative and funny continuity throughout the book. Seeing as this book followed the typical “The Three Little Pigs” format, the book had three different parts to it in which the wolf in the story tried to eat the three little pigs; however, instead of blowing their houses down, the author made the big issue out to be the wolf’s bad breath. Each time he got close to one of the pigs, the wolf’s breath would either alarm the pigs or other people would laugh at him, making him leave and rethink his plan to eat the three little pigs. When this issue was paired with the illustrations of the wolf’s bad breath and the character’s facial expressions when they smelled it, the issue was hilarious to read and gave the typical story of “The Three Little Pigs” a comical edge. The big idea of the book was to tell a story using the typical format of “The three Little Pigs” but to add music and comedy into the book to spark the interest of a reader who may have already been familiar with the classic tale. show less

“Once and only once there were three pigs who kept perfect rhythm.” So begins this jazzy retelling of the classic three pigs story. The three pigs, Satch, Mo, and Ella, were the members of a jazz trio that perform to sold-out audiences. There was also a wolf, “the baddest cat to walk the land,” who is set on catching the pigs and eating them for dinner. Wolfie was badly burned by the pigs’ uncles when he tried to huff and puff their houses down and he just won’t let it go. When show more the wolf finally catches up with the pigs during a performance the pigs turn the tables on the wolf by asking him to sing. He realizes if he eats the pigs he won’t be able to make sweet music with the band. The band becomes known as 3 Swingin’ Pigs and Wolfie.

This fractured fairytale parodies the classic Three Pigs story while at the same time celebrating and paying tribute to the world of jazz. The swinging text is full of fun slang words, “Daddy-O,” and a phrase of scatting that is repeated throughout the story. Even the names of the pigs tip their hats to jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-54-three-swingin-pigs-by-vicky.... show less

Great retelling of the three little pigs, where the wolf is redeemed in the end. A little hard with the wording, but overall a pretty great book.