THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS is a satisfyingly funny poke at the traditional tale of the Three Little Pigs, told this time by the wolf himself, Alexander T. Wolf, or just Al.  Al has been set up, you see.  Al never did anything to those three little pigs and in this story he explains how it all happened.

The story according to Al revolves around a sneeze and a cup of sugar.  Being the nice wolf that he is, Al is making a birthday cake for his granny when he runs out of sugar and goes to the First Little Pig's house to borrow some.  While there, a great sneeze came over him which blew the First Pig's straw house down and killed the Pig in the process.  Of course, no respectable wolf could leave a perfectly good ham dinner lying there in the straw.  So Al the Wolf ate the First Little Pig, but the reader should think of it more like finding a perfectly juicy cheeseburger and eating it right up.

The story continues in this quirky and wonderful sense of humor that will not be lost on older school age readers.  The illustrations expand the text beautifully, and provide many delightful details for the reader to find, like rabbit ears in the cake batter and a mouse tail in the cheeseburger. The Wolf is drawn with small, yellow bead like eyes and tiny spectacles that sit atop his snout.  With his pin striped sweater, bow tie and overall demeanor, the Wolf has the look of being quite a bit less trustworthy than he portrays himself to be in the story.  Shadows of the Wolf's figure are used in several spreads to create odd and curious angles around the wolf, creating doubts about how trustworthy he could actually be.

The story is set up in the spirit of the traditional folk tale, with action that is fast paced and characters that are entertaining but flat.  THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS gives the wolf a chance to set the record straight and show the reader how he was framed by reporters as "big and bad."   The true fun of the story is its rich and clever feel that brings a whole new level of enjoyment to the traditional version of the Three Little Pigs.