THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS

One of life's more important lessons is that a second view of the same events may yield a story that is entirely different from another but equally "true." As Alexander Wolf tells his story, he was innocently trying to borrow a cup of sugar from a little pig when he sneezed so hard that the pig's obviously inadequate straw house fell down and killed him, so—rather than let all that good ham go to waste—the wolf ate him. But when the third little pig, safe in his brick house, not only refused to discuss loaning sugar but was rude about the wolf's Granny, the wolf tried to force the door, the pig called the cops, and the wolf was jailed—complaining that reporters blew the story all out of proportion and that he was framed. Scieszka carries off this revision with suitably mordant humor, ably reflected in Smith's dark, elegantly sophisticated illustrations. Not for little children, but middle grades and up should be entertained while taking the point about the unreliability of witnesses.