The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Author: Jon Scieszka

Illustrator: Lane Smith

Age: KS2

"Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do..." - "nobody has heard my side of the story."

This is an interesting alternative version of the traditional tale, showing how there is always more sides to a story. Here, the wolf is not evil, but simply wants a cup of sugar for a cake he is baking for his Grandmother. He claims it is all a misunderstanding that the media exaggerated.

The book could be used for children to retell other fairy-tales, creating their own versions and writing from a different character's perspective. Also, this is a good resource for learning about newspapers and the media. Fact and opinion can be explored, along with other features of report writing, such as: headlines, quotations, images with captions, subheadings, column structure and hyperbole. It could be a good way to make children more aware that we shouldn't accept everything as fact e.g. elements of bias and exaggeration - could make links to history (censorship during war times)

Similar concepts exist for different fairy-tales and there are films that could be used too. For example Hoodwinked is an animation film that could be used: