Three Pigs by David Weisner

The Three Pigs by David Weisner is a wonderful deviation from the normal fairy tale. Although the story starts out  the same with the little pigs gathering materials and heading out to build their various structures the wolf ends up blowing the first little pig right out of the story. Only David Weisner with his brilliant artistic sense could create such a departure. He takes the reader in and out of stories allowing the little pig to fill his curiosity by jumping in and out of stories while the pig remains stuck. 

As a teacher I would use this book to begin "What if" discussions and see where the students were willing to go. This would be a great imaginative exercise allowing the students to flex their creative muscles. I also like the way that Weisner begins the known tale in the same way but is able to take the reader and seemingly the pigs on a wild adventure. It's exciting to read and the pictures make the adventures come alive. This is a great book for K-3 but I can also think of many activities to help older students learn to take risks in their writing.