Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf: A Counting Story

by Davide Cali, Marianna Balducci (Illustrator)

Overview

An unseen reader goes head-to-head with the big bad wolf in this hilarious counting-book twist on The Three Little Pigs.

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs.
Then the wolf ate them.
THE END.

This story is too short! I want a longer one!

In this clever counting book, the big bad wolf doesn’t want to tell a long story. He wants to get to the eating part. But the reader has other ideas. From a pig soccer team to a pig for every letter of the alphabet to 101 pigs in an animated movie, the stories get more and more fantastical . . . but they’re always too short and they ALL end the same way.

Using an abacus as the basis for her illustrations, Marianna creates beguiling little pigs and a menacing but slightly bored wolf that perfectly complement the inventive story by Davide Cali. Come for the counting, stay for the storytelling! This book has it all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735269910
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	09/27/2022
Pages:	36
Sales rank:	264,490
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 12.00(h) x 0.44(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Swiss-born Italian writer Davide Cali began his career in 1994 as a cartoon writer for the Italian magazine Linus. He began writing children’s books in 1998, and since then he has published more than ninety books for children that have been translated into thirty languages. Davide has taught writing and illustration courses in Italy and all over Europe, and he has won numerous prizes for his picture books, which include Great Dog, Cinderella and the Furry Slippers and Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs. Davide lives in Italy and is currently the art director at the storytelling agency Book on a Tree. He does not know any wolves personally.

Marianna Balducci graduated in fashion studies and works as a freelance illustrator for communication projects and children’s books. Drawing is a state of life and her favorite way to explore the world. She usually mixes different techniques, especially illustration and photography. She loves surfing the web, catching great ideas and getting to know people and their stories. Marianna lives in Rimini, Italy, with 101 imaginary pigs.

Editorial Reviews

One of Bookshop.org's Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books of 2022
One of Imagination Soup's Best Picture Books of 2022

"[A] clever take on metafiction that will appeal to both budding mathematicians and writers. . . . Creative visuals and storytelling make for an absorbing read and a great bridge for both math and writing activities." —STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

"[A] brilliantly funny Scheherazadian counting book." —New York Times

"This is the perfect book for young readers looking for a good laugh . . . Better than a read-aloud, this is a read-along, to be acted out, guessed through, or counted out." —School Library Journal

"[W]ritten and illustrated in a clever manner that has been well-thought-out. Cali and Balducci both play a role in making this picture book as laugh-out-loud funny as it is. The story, itself, is a fractured fairy tale, and the inclusion of the narration of a disgruntled reader who is reflective of the real audience’s thoughts and attitudes adds that much more humour. . . . Highly recommended." —CM Magazine

From the Publisher

08/01/2022

K-Gr 3—As if a parent is reading a deeply unsatisfying story to a child, whose countering comments appear in red, this version of the traditional story of the three little pigs opens in a few quick sentences. The comments in red demand more, bored by such an uneventful fairy tale. Each subsequent page obligingly adds more and more pigs to the story with a few extra details sprinkled in, but a new critique is always given. Eventually, math problems enter into it, and the story gets so out of hand that there are one thousand pigs as it concludes. By this point, neither the initial reader nor the one commenting in red cares how the story ends; it's beside the point and a good time has been had by all. Not only a fairy tale with a comical twist, this is a unique story that features some fun math problems while always keeping the result of each page the same: wolf eats pigs. This is the perfect book for young readers looking for a good laugh and its bright illustrations are more than appealing to the eye. An abacus is used both in its traditional function (as a counting tool) and to hold the bodies of the pigs themselves. The wolf is illustrated with dark, sketched lines and is almost always accompanied by a prop—a raincoat, calendar, or glasses, to name a few—to keep the story moving along with entertaining detail. VERDICT Better than a read-aloud, this is a read-along, to be acted out, guessed through, or counted out. A fun way to think about too many pigs.—Kerra Mazzariello

School Library Journal

★ 2022-09-14
Will the pigs’ storytelling ever please the big bad wolf?

It’s a battle of wits. Back-and-forth dialogue between the pigs and the wolf makes clear that the wolf is a demanding editor. Most tales that the pigs tell are too short. Some veer off topic. Other stories lack specificity. The wolf wants a story with a “beginning and a middle and an end.” The pigs try. At the end of each story, the wolf almost always eats the pigs. The pigs are creative. They describe a soccer game. They write a story with 26 pigs (one for each letter of the alphabet) and one with 29 pigs (one for each day of the month—it’s February and a leap year). They even write math-based stories, but the wolf is still not satisfied. However, in a logical but still surprising ending, there is a clear victor. Readers who carefully watch the wolf’s face and posture will get hints. The illustrations, an inspired blend of illustration and photography, depict the pigs as beads grouped along an abacus. The pigs’ faces are expressive, with interesting details like a doctor’s coat and fun hats. The sometimes numbered or lettered pig beads shift from side to side and multiply as each spread’s story requires. The result is a clever take on metafiction that will appeal to both budding mathematicians and writers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Creative visuals and storytelling make for an absorbing read and a great bridge for both math and writing activities. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews