Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf: A Counting Story
by Davide Cali (Author) Marianna Balducci (Illustrator)
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.
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Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
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
Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
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
JUV009030 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Counting & Numbers
JUV012040 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Adaptations
