BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rueda, Carol.
2012. Huff & Puff. New York:
Abrams Appleseeed. ISBN 1419701702
PLOT SUMMARY
In this story,
Rueda retells the traditional story of “The Three Pigs” with a sweet twist at
the end.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Rueda’s version
of “The Three Pigs” is a simplified and engaging story for young readers. Rueda has eliminated extraneous narration and
provides an abridged version of the story.
The focus of this book is the illustrations. Because so much of the text has been removed,
the reader must get most of the information from the illustrations on each
page. For example, Rueda does not
explicitly tell what each house is being built from, but the reader can
identify the building materials from the page.
Although the wolf is mentioned in the text, he is not included in the illustrations. The illustrations were created with pen, ink, and watercolor on paper. In addition to the black of the ink, Rueda mostly uses the colors tan and pink, with blue and yellow accents throughout. Rueda’s strong use of lines gives movement and shadows to the pictures. The pigs are quite adorable and endearing.
The most unusual aspect of this story is the hole on the pages where the wolf is huffing and puffing. This feature creates an interactive reading experience. Young children will enjoy blowing through the hole to blow the house down – my daughter definitely did!
Although the wolf is mentioned in the text, he is not included in the illustrations. The illustrations were created with pen, ink, and watercolor on paper. In addition to the black of the ink, Rueda mostly uses the colors tan and pink, with blue and yellow accents throughout. Rueda’s strong use of lines gives movement and shadows to the pictures. The pigs are quite adorable and endearing.
The most unusual aspect of this story is the hole on the pages where the wolf is huffing and puffing. This feature creates an interactive reading experience. Young children will enjoy blowing through the hole to blow the house down – my daughter definitely did!
Overall, this
book is a great introduction to the original tale. It is very simplified and perfect for very
young children (2-5 years).
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Booklist: "Simple
but wonderfully expressive.”
Kirkus Reviews: “A good chance for youngsters to relish enacting the wicked role while still getting a friendly reconciliation at the end.”
School Library Journal: "Very young readers will get a kick out of taking the wolf’s part, and their parents will appreciate that the scariest bits of the original tale have been omitted."
CONNECTIONS
Other books
involving the story of “The Three Pigs” include:
Gay, Marie-Louise. The Three Little Pigs. ISBN 088899639X
Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. ISBN 0618007011
Hi, can i ask you something? You seem to know a lot about children books and illustrations. The thing is, I’m looking for children books with “scary” animal illustrations like the big bad wolf (or a fox) eating pigs (or seven kids or Red Riding hood or birds in Chicken Little) or
ReplyDeletebeing pictured with a fat stomach. Could be any other animal as well. I need it for my research. Any sort of help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.