Huff & Puff

"Can You Blow Down the Houses of the Three Little Pigs?" invites the sturdy die-cut cover. Each pig builds a house; then, small participants serve as "one wolf huffing and puffing" through a dime-sized hole. The first two pigs are shown beating eggs and mixing batter; the third time, the "wolf" has blown out birthday cake candles. Like her repetitive text, Rueda's illustrations are gently funny and elegantly simple.

"Can You Blow Down the Houses of the Three Little Pigs?" invites the sturdy die-cut cover of this latest spin-off of the classic nursery tale. Actually, the conceit here (and the appeal) is simpler than the original story -- knowledge of which, however, would seem to be prerequisite to full enjoyment of this variant. As usual, each pig builds a house; then, small participants serve as "one wolf huffing and puffing" through a dime-sized hole. A page turn reveals, in the first instance, a doleful, straw-strewn pig, on the verge of beating eggs; second, a pig unhappily surrounded with fallen sticks but with well-mixed batter in his bowl; and finally, after "one wolf huffing and puffing, AGAIN. (REALLY hard)" through the last little die-cut hole, there’s a "SURPRISE!": the wolf (i.e., the reader; we never actually see a wolf) has blown out the three candles on the cake the pigs have made, and now "three pigs and one wolf are happy." Like her repetitive text, Rueda’s illustrations are gently funny and elegantly simple. A watercolor palette of pale blue and brown sets off swatches of pig pink and pinker brick, delicately defined in scribbled pen and ink. The main event here will be the huffing and puffing through those holes, which suggests that the book may be best enjoyed with copy in hand. Still, clever storytellers may find ways to engage several children in windy group efforts. joanna rudge long