Cover Image: Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf

Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf

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Member Reviews

This was a cute book with cute illustrations, but the storyline lost me about halfway through. It was a lot and I wasn't in the mood that day.

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I am always looking for books to accompany the curriculum and this book by Davide Cali teaches colors and numbers in a new and fresh way with a twist on the fairy tale....The Three Little Pigs. It is a favorite in my classroom.

Thank you Net Galley andPenguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books for the ARC.

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The progression of this story and the use of the abacus didn't really make a lot of sense to me. THe illustrations are cute but I feel like I'd be called upon to explain an abacus if I read it to a kid.

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A storyteller makes a tale about little pigs and a wolf too short. One sentence would be considered too short by any child, and this was not a long sentence.

The increasing number of pigs turns the story into a counting game (of wooden pig beads on an abacus), and the creative illustrations make it even more fun!

While teasingly avoiding what is truly wanted--a traditional story--the storyteller continues to add more little pigs, and changes the themes of the story (from colors to sports to the alphabet, etc.). The wolf plays along, but hasn't forgotten his job as the Big Bad Wolf.

This is a story readers will not soon forget. And children will learn to anticipate the changes coming up "That pig was first!"

It's a silly, and funny, and creative version of the Three Little Pigs that provides an alternative to the traditional story. Especially positive for young fans of the wolf! Delightful!

5/5 Stars

Thanks to Tundra Books and NetGalley for the preview of this ebook galley; the review is voluntary.


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'Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf,' by Davide Cali is a humorous adaptation of the familiar three little pigs story - that introduces colors, numbers, and an abacus!.

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This clever adaptation of the Three Little Pigs features a number of pigs and one very determined wolf. Each double page spread has an increasing number of pigs for the wolf to eat and the pigs complaining that the story is too short. The illustrations are super interesting in that the illustrator used an abacus to represent the pigs and used paper cut outs to decorate the beads to show the pigs and the wolf. All in all, a very fun and funny retelling of the story.

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My daughter absolutely loved this book. It’s so fun, humorous and colorful. She loved hearing what was coming next. I loved that numbers were incorporated as well!

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Thank you to the author, Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This colorfully illustrated book is a simple and rather repetitive retelling of the classic "three little pigs" tale. The storyteller launches into a quickly told story of one sentence, and hears "too short, I want longer". This continues for quite a while, each iteration adds pigs and a bit more detail. The story as such is almost non-existent, but the illustrations are fantastic and a good starting point to look at numbers, colors and simple equations with very small children.

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Colorful and quirky, this is a fun [though rather repetitive] picture book that incorporates counting and colors and and poor storytelling [much to the annoyance of the little listener]. While I didn't love this one [though the illustrations are colorful and fun and are really the best part of this book], I can see very little loving this [4 and under IMO] and learning numbers and colors and the alphabet, and I can see adults using this to expand on the information their kids already have.

Thank you to NetGalley, Davide Cali, Marianna Balducci - Illustrator, and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This one is so much fun! My daughter is obsessed with the abacus. The illustrations using the abacus beads for the pig bodies are so cute. They are such a fun blend of the real abacus counting and cute drawings of pigs. This one will be fun to read and join along (at least at the beginning).

I appreciate that the story is interactive in the story telling as well. The story gets more complicated because the "reader" wants more out of The Three Pigs tale. The narrator then introduces more pigs and more math concepts. I really enjoyed this one, and it would be a great addition to an elementary classroom looking for more math reads.

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This is a retelling multiple times in different variations the three little pigs. The author keeps the story playful and silly but also has hidden facts in the book to help kids learn. For example the alphabet and the math equations.

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Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf by Davide Cali.
This picture book is a great resource for teaching young children how to use an abacus for counting. A combination of cute illustrations and mathematical equations. This book would be perfect for homeschool families.

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Illustrator Marianna Balducci creates a magical world of three-dimensional pigs on an abacus in some of the most amazing — I don’t want to call them drawings, as they’re so much more — whatever they should be called.

What’s amazing is that Davide Cali’s accompanying text matches the — again, what to call them? — “illustrations” so well. I’m an adult, and I forgot this was a counting book because the storyline was so good! And so funny! Kids will adore this book, but I suspect their grownups will love the book even more! Kids reject most counting books before kindergarten, but this particularly one will appeal even to tweens, who will get the joke.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Tundra Books in exchange for an honest review.

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Story: 10
Illustration: 10

I laughed out loud, reading Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf. I loved the illustrations, I am a sucker for anything math related, and the interactive, hilarious text was the cherry on top of the most delicious pi… I mean book.

I am definitely buying this book as soon as it is available. It is a great book to read to and with children from infancy until grade 2 as it has many fun math concepts to build on.

** Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review. **

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf was a cute, simple counting story but unfortunately did not hold the attention of my students.

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Cali's twist on the standard tale is humorous, inviting, and integrates different mathematical images and thinking throughout the story. The dialogue will enchant younger readers, while also being appropriate for a reader's theater or shared reading between older students. This is one of the more unique twists that I've seen on this story, and would recommend for any younger readers.

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I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. The little ones were engaged for the first part of the book, but there became a bit overwhelmed as the book went on. A lot to take in, with repetition that made reading it a bit of a laborious experience, rather than a usually enjoyable one.

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This unusual picture book offers several brief versions of the story of the Three Pigs told using a black text, while a text in red demands longer versions of the story. Each version is sillier than the previous one, and none pleases the unseen person using the red text. The artwork is unusual, showing the pigs’ middle sections using wooden beads, with cartoon artwork added for the heads and limbs. This technique is appealing but makes for illustrations that won’t carry to a crowd. Parts of the story depict colors, another section has the alphabet, and there is counting throughout, making this fun for classroom use or one-on-one sharing. The text could be used for a readers’ theatre activity since it is a dialogue between two people.

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I cannot wait to buy this book for all of the “quirky” kids in my life. If offbeat humor and thinking outside of the box are how you and your little ones roll, this is perfect for you. The three little pigs will never be the same again!

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Wow this book is a huge hit with my 4 abs 6 year old. Immediately after reading my 4 year old daughter asked we read it again.

Starts with the story of the three little pigs but the wolf just immediately eats them, in kid fashion the response in the book is too short, so each page the author/narrator of the story keeps adding. There is such great simple humor that my kids and I just loved reading.

Our favorite part we're the illustrations, looking for small details on each page. We loved seeing what the wolf was up to and what silly pigs were added next.

5 stars for both kid enjoyment but also enjoyable for a parent to read. Love it

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