The Fourth Little Pig

Author: Teresa Celsi
Illutrator: Doug Cushman
Publisher and date of publication: Steck-Vaughn Company 1990
Genre: Picture Book, Folk Tale
Grade: K-2

In The Fourth Little Pig the sister comes to visit the three little pigs in their brick house. Ever since the wolf blew down the other houses the three little pigs have been hiding inside the brick house. They were afraid to go outside for they feared that the wolf would get them. When the sister arrived she was amazed to find them in such fear and decided that she had to persuade them to overcome their fears and go outside. She tried to get them to imagine all the things they could do outside the house but when that didn't work she huffed and puffed and blew down their house. The pigs then peeked over what was left of their wall and soon saw that there was not a wolf in sight. They them cheered with joy and decided that they would never spend their whole life in fear. The sister was then left the three little pigs to go and explore because she loved to travel.

I absolutely loved The Fourth Little Pig. It was a great continuance of what happened in the original story. It takes place after the story that we all know and love. What I loved most about the story was that they included a strong female figure in the book. The three boy pigs were living in fear and constantly hiding from the big bad wolf. Then in comes the sister pig and tells them to grow up pretty much. She shows them that there is this great big world out there to enjoy and explore. She opens their eyes and teaches them not to be afraid. I really loved how powerful her character came across in the story. I am not sure what the illustrations were made of but if I had to guess I would say some sort of watercolor. The reason I say that is because of how the colors fade across the page. Each color has many different shades, not like some things that you use and get a consistent color with. Anyways, the colors were loud and vibrant while portraying these pigs and their story.

The story ends by saying "She knows there are worlds to explore, if only you're willing to open the door." I would explore with my students what exactly this quote means. I think it is a great saying and it offers up an opportunity to really explore with my students what other types of worlds are our there. We can explore cultures and much more. I think it is a great way to teach children to not be afraid to learn about places, people and things that they are not familiar with. In this book there is also the issue of fear. With students I could talk about things that they are afraid of and explore options to help them overcome and deal with certain fears. There are other lessons with this story like learning about pigs and their habitat however I think that with an older grade you could easily use this book for much more.