I was looking at this book in our school library when a fellow teacher leaned over my shoulder, read the title, and said, "Oh, no! I bet this one is hysterical!"

She was right.

The obvious role-reversal of Wolf and Pig in the retelling of this old classic is sure to make any child giggle even before the book is opened. Once you DO start reading it, stand back! Three cuddly little wolves are sent by their mother out into the world to make their way (mom is painting her nails black and has curlers in her hair and tail--a very nice touch!). The three wolves, in a departure from the original tale, borrow some bricks from a passing kangaroo and build a sturdy brick house.

All goes well and they're out in the garden playing croquet when the Big, Bad Pig comes sauntering along. The wolves hid inside, won't let him in, and the Big Bad Pig tries to blow the house down.

He cant, of course. The house is brick! But, "the pig wasn't called big and bad for nothing. He went and fetched his sledgehammer and knocked the house down." The illustrations by Ms. Oxenbury of the pig smashing the walls with a hammer while the wolves flee through a window is worth the cost of the book alone. But, wait! There's MORE!

They build a succession of stronger houses, each which is demolished by the pig (he uses a pneumatic hammer and dynamite). Only when they try to change their tactics and make a house of FLOWERS does the pig change his ways and see how destructive and obnoxious he was.

This is a marvelous book, and no mistake. There are probably a good 200 versions of the Three Little Pigs, many of which end with the grisly death of the wolf. In the Three Little Wolves, not only is the reader immediately hooked on the role reversal of wolf and pig, but the text and illustrations are simply hysterical and the peaceful ending make it far more enjoyable than the original fable. This is a book that should be in everyone's library!!