Module #9:  Where’s the Big Bad Wolf?

Book Summary: This is a new take on the “Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs” story, written and illustrated by Eileen Christelow. In this picture book, a mystery has the locals trying to discover who wants to harm the three little pigs.  Although Detective Doggedly has a feeing the big bad wolf is behind all the strange occurrences, he has to follow all the clues to find the real culprit.

APA Reference of Book: Christelow, E. (2002). Where's the big bad wolf? (1st ed.). New York: Clarion Books.

Impressions: This story had me wondering who was behind the mischief and I was pleasantly surprised when, at the end of the story, we find out that indeed the big bad wolf has been pulling the wool over the three little pigs, and everybody else’s, eyes. This is a picture book with fun, colorful illustrations created by the author and includes additional dialogue bubbles as the characters talk to each other.

Professional Review:

Three little pigs get some real bad advice from a wolf in a real goofy sheep disguise in this comical whodunit. The three little pigs are having their homes blown dowry--and escaping by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins--and Detective Doggedly believes it might be the work of the shiftless, no-account neighborhood wolf, the infamous BBW. But the only character found at the crime scenes is a newcomer to town: Esmeralda the sheep. Sure, kids will note, Esmeralda their foot, for her disguise is pretty transparent. She has also been giving the pigs construction ideas: straw is good, twigs are good, and cardboard's not bad. Two cows suggest a brick house, which foils the wolf and ends in his unveiling and incarceration. Short-term incarceration, that is, as he's soon back, this time tricked out as a horse, with more self-serving recommendations: "Pick peas after midnight, when everybody is asleep. They'll taste sweeter." So what if there are a few inexplicable here--How did the wolf con his way into that hospital bed?--this is good clownish fun, and the rough-and-tumble art keeps the farce bubbling. (Picture book. 4-7)

Where’s the big bad wolf? (Book). (2002). Kirkus Reviews, 70(14), 1028.

Library Uses: A great introduction to mystery books for elementary school readers.  This is also a great variation on the classic three little pigs theme.