A Really Different 3 Pigs! (written by David Weisner)

Well, the surprise is on me. I thought after previewing this book that because of its abstract twists and turns that it was going to be over my children's heads - they are boy and girl, almost 5 and almost 7 respectively. But I was wrong. Not only did they understand what was happening, they thought the artwork was really silly and fun. And as soon as we were done reading Weisner's "The Three Pigs", they asked for the book to be read again. And after we were done the second time, they asked for it a third time -- which is fairly unprecedented in our home. [Go figure. Just when you think you know your children they spring some surprise on you -- LOL.]

By the way, the abstraction I'm talking about is artistic. You see in this book the Piggies aren't content to stick to the standard "Three Little Pigs" script. Instead they escape from their regular storybook pages and traipse about visiting other fairytale characters. Pigs are seen moving out of one page and art style, and into another story with it's different artistic motif. And whether a child is ready for such a deviation is going to determine whether they enjoy this book.

Rating ::: A
This book has very clever artwork. Not a Read-Aloud in the traditional sense, my children couldn't wait to go through it again and again.

Will your child 'get it'? Hard to say. The artwork and story here have levels of abstraction that are just going to swoop over the heads of some small. However, I certainly liked it, and my children and I would recommend it.

Considerations :::
David Weisner's The Three Pigs has an Accelerated Reading (AR) designation of 2.3 which means that the average 2nd Grader in the 3rd month of school should be able to read it without getting frustrated by the vocabulary. It can be read aloud to any age.