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Readers > Every Family Reads 2009 > Discussion & Activity Guide

Discussion & Activity Guide

wolf

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By A. Wolf

Extra! Extra! Questions to blow your house down

  1. Read the original story of the three little pigs. Which side of the story do you think is true, the wolf’s or the pigs’?
  2. What are two things that happened in The True Story that didn’t happen in the original story?
  3. Was the wolf guilty?
  4. Sometimes letters in the text are made up of objects (for example, the first letter of the book ‘E’ is made up of sticks, bricks and straw). Why do you think the illustrator decided to do this?
  5. The illustrations are contained in boxes, but on a few pages the pictures break out of the box. What effect does this have?
  6. Just who is Al Wolf’s grandmother? Hint: look at the illustration of A. Wolf discovering he is out of sugar. On the wall behind him is a picture of Granny.
  7. Think of another fairy tale you like. Imagine it told by someone else in the story. For example, what would the stepmother have to say about Cinderella?
  8. The wolf thinks the pigs weren’t too bright to build houses out of straw and sticks. Is he right or is the wolf making excuses about blowing down those houses?
  9. Why did the pig choose straw for building a house? Sticks? Bricks?
  10. If you were going to build a house, what material would you use? Why would your choice be good for building a house?
  11. Look at the picture of the second little pig lying “dead as a doornail” in the midst of the broken stick house. What do the sticks on either side of him look like?
  12. Look at the picture of the wolf baking the birthday cake for his grandmother. What ingredients is he putting in the birthday cake? What would you put in?