Five Little Piggies

by David Martin

Book Overview

We all know the familiar story -- or do we? Why did one piggy go shopping, while another stayed behind? And what could have sent the littlest piggy running at such a fast clip toward home? Now David... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439077206
• ISBN13: 9780590638180
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Backstory

Nice concept. Like a "This Little Piggy" behind the scenes rockumentary. David Martin and Susan Meddaugh flesh out the complete story of the five little piggies. The book opens up with the traditional "This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home," essentially as a table of contents, introducing us to the five little piggies. Martin then devotes a chapter to each of the petite porcine protagonists, fleshing out the stories behind each individual trimeteric line. They open strong, with the piggy going to market to pick up eggs, milk, and apples. She riffs all the way there, ultimately confusing herself, "...Megs and milk and maples. Pegs and pilk and papples." By the time she gets to the store, she's forgotten what she is buying and needs to go out to search for some visual cues to remind her. There's some more word play, and she shows up home with the groceries and further malapropisms. The supermom pig catches on quickly and plays along, "Oh, they're delicious pooples... And here's a great big BUG for my silly piggy wiggy." The book also closes strong, with the Little Piggy who cried "Wee Wee Wee" all the way home. The little pinky-toe piggy gets up from a neighborhood sandbox mudfight and, with a concerned expression, begins to cry "wee wee wee," out of the frame. Through five more frames, over the next three pages, until she final runs into the bathroom. Leaving the bathroom, she is finally back to her usual cheerful face: "Oh!... That felt good. I really had to go." The three little piggies in between seem to have more forced stories. The one who stays home spilled his juice, dropped his cereal, and then split his pants. His mother then lets him stay home from school. The next day, the other piggies spill their breakfast hoping to stay home, but the second metatarsal piggy is seen donning his orange backpack and eagerly leaving for school. The piggy who has roast beef? He's sick of slop. But to get the roast beef taste better, he asks for his roast beef to be decorated with squashed bananas and rotten eggs, "last week's soup and a squishy pickle," until he is eating essential slop with roast beef in it. I was a little let down by this one. I thought there was an opportunity to explore the dark, ironic side of this line of the verse, the domesticated omnivore feasting on a domesticated herbivore. Likewise, chapter four, the piggy who had none, drops his ice cream and let's go of his balloons in his distress. Then, in a near tangent, the other piggies come down with chicken pox, except for the piggy who had none. He protests the lack of spots and his mother draws some on him. That's about as much depth as we get there. Cute book overall, but calls from a strong vocal performance from parents for maximum effect.

One of the best books

My 3 year old daughter loves this book! The stories are funny and the illustration are hilarious.

The Five Little Piggies Review

The five Little Piggies is a cute book on the true story about the ryme: "This little piggy went to the market.This little stayed home.This little piggy had roast beef.This little piggy had none.And this little Piggy cried, "Wee wee wee," all the way home!"This fun detailed book is wonderful for all ages of children. It is very cute and will give you a good laugh at the end. I promise that you will enjoy every little part of it, because I did, and I know you will too. This is a very exciting book that children of all ages should read. I loved it.

KinderKids Love It!<br>

This is a roll-on-the-floor-and-giggle book that my kindergarten class adores. I save it to read at special times -- like the end of the day or right before recess -- because the kids literally roll around laughing at these short-and-silly stories based on the familiar "This Little Piggy Went to Market" rhyme. Clever, cartoonish illustrations add to the fun-and-games flavor of this book. Highly recommended.

Hilarious background stories of "five little piggies"

This book contains five short stories of "five little piggies" (this little piggy went to market, etc.). The illustrations are wonderful and the short stories hilarious. It's an excellent book for your child who is just learning to read. It is funny enough that parents and/or grandparents will enjoy reading it with their favorite little ones.