The Three Pigs: Caldecott Medal Award Winner

The Three Pigs, written by David Wiesner and illustrated by Carol Goldenberg
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Pages: 52
Genre: Picture Book - Traditional Literature
Rating: Thumbs Up and Down

In this book, the author takes us through a different version of the classic tale concerning the three pigs. A funny twist occurs in the story as the pigs decide they do not like how the story has been told in the past and they are exiting the story. The pigs then decide to slide and fly out of their story pages and into other tale pages.

I rated this book at a "Thumbs Up and Down" because I liked the different twist the story presented, but my children had a very hard time understanding and following the story. It was a good idea, but not all readers will get what the author was trying to do.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat: Caldecott Medal Award Winner

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, written and illustrated by Simms Taback

Publisher: Viking

Pages: 24

Genre: Picture Book - Traditional Literature

Rating: Thumbs Up!!

This is a colorful and interesting book on how Joseph recycles his old worn out coat over and over. Each page is delightful with the use of darker and brighter colors, as Taback hides through his artwork the future shape of the coat he continues to reuse and rework. Creativity is shown throughout as we are taken on a journey of how the coat becomes 7 different useful and needed things until the final reworked product, a button, is lost.

I truely enjoyed this book and gave it the rating of "Thumbs Up!!". The story and illustrations are captivating as you watch what will happen to the old coat next. I also enjoyed the end of the book where the author told the history of the story and followed it with a song with music that could be sang along with reading the book. This would be a perfect book to share with young readers learning about recycling.