The Three Little Gators
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Publisher Description
Wanda Gag Honor Book 2010
2011 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award nominee
A delightfull retelling of the three little pigs story.
Three little gators strike out on their own in an east Texas swamp. Their mother warns them to build strong houses that can protect them from Big-bottomed Boar, who likes to eat tasty, tender gators for his snack. Soon, First Gator builds himself a nice house out of rocks. Second Gator reckons rocks are too much work, so he builds his house with sticks. And Third Gator's house of sand is the easiest one to build! But soon Big-bottomed Boar shows up. With a bump, bump, bump of the fierce boar's rump, he knocks over Third Gator's house of sand. It doesn't take long for that rump to bump Second Gator's house of sticks. But he can't knock over Third Gator's house of stones, so he tries another way in - through the chimney! Guess what happens to the Boar's rump after that?!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Readers-particularly from the Lone Star State-who can't get enough of the original Three Little Pigs may enjoy this Texan transformation from the team behind Armadilly Chili. Ketteman's story features three gap-toothed young gators who outwit the Big-bottomed Boar, but the tag lines are not quite as memorable as the original wolf's huffing and puffing. When he's refused entry to the gators' houses, the boar threatens, "Then I'll wiggle my rump with a bump, bump, bump and smash your house!" The neon gators are differentiated only by a straw hat, a baseball cap, and a pair of glasses (which naturally belong to the smartest gator, who builds his house out of rocks). Ketteman adds a subtle-if somewhat didactic-message about sloth by having the gators scorn each others' building materials ("Bad choice.... Rocks are heavy and too much work"). Still, folksy details in both text ("Third Gator ran faster than a fox after a muskrat") and art (a bottle of boar sauce sits next to the fireplace, as the boar earns some grill marks) should entertain. Ages 4-8.
