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Summary
Summary
In the bestselling tradition of The Three Snow Bears (Putnam, 2007) comes the well-known tale of 'The Three Little Pigs' - with a twist! Acclaimed children's writer and illustrator Jan Brett has found the inspiration for her own version of a beloved story in Namibia, where red rock mountains and vivid blue skies are home to appealing little dassies - or 'rock rabbits' - and hungry eagles. Bold African patterns and prints make for stunning illustrations, but it is the dassies in their bright, colourful dresses and hats that steal the show in this irresistible tale.
Author Notes
Bestselling children's book author and illustrator Jan Brett was born on December 1, 1949. She decided to be an illustrator when she was a child and is known for her detailed and carefully-researched work.
Brett grew up in New England and attended the Boston Museum School. Her books have received much acclaim by publications including Newsweek, The New Yorker, Parents magazine, Redbook, and Publishers Weekly. In 2005 Brett earned the Boston Public Library's Lifetime Achievement Award. Her book Three Little Dassies was published in 2010 and made the New York Times bestseller list. Other of her works that have made the New York Times best seller list are: Home for Christmas 2011, Mossy 2012, Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella., 2014 The Animal's Santa.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This offering is classic Brett: meticulously rendered animal characters, an authentically depicted setting, ornate borders, action-filled side panels, and lively storytelling. This version of The Three Little Pigs takes place in southern Africa, where three dassies-small native mammals also called rock hyraxes-bid adieu to their family and set out "to find their own place." After crossing the Namib Desert in a tortoise-pulled wagon, sisters Mimbi, Pimbi, and Timbi reach a mountain where they agree to settle down. They're welcomed by an agama lizard, who mentions that an eagle, an enemy to dassies, lives nearby. After this predator destroys two of the dassies' houses and carries the dassies to his nest, the lizard rescues them and helps outwit the bird. Brett (The Easter Egg) dresses her dassies in the vibrantly patterned traditional dresses and turbans of the Herero people of Namibia. The eagle and lizard are nattily attired in hats and colorful menswear-but even the suspenders, straw hat, and checked pants of the eagle don't lessen the menace of his talons. A buoyant and original reimagining. Ages 3-5. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Set in Namibia, this enjoyable riff on "The Three Little Pigs" stars three dassies--furry, rabbit-sized creatures--who set up housekeeping near a mountain and find their lives threatened by a big, bad eagle ("I'll flap and I'll clap and I'll blow your house in!"). Brett uses an eye-catching variety of multicolored patterns, with side panels helping to tell the story. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
First things first: dassies, or rock hydraxes, are small mammals native to sub-Saharan Africa. In this Three Little Pigs adaptation, three dassies strike out to make new homes. While Timbi takes the time to construct a solid stone dwelling, hasty siblings Mimbi and Pimbi use grass and sticks, respectively. After being pursued by an eagle, the dassies' natural predator (playing the wolf's traditional role here), Mimbi and Pimbi find shelter at Timbi's, where a blast from the chimney sends the villainous bird home for a nap, wrapping up the tale with a nonviolent end. The familiar plotline is extended in the intricate watercolor-and-gouache artwork in Brett's signature triptych layout: each central panel reflects the action described in the text, while wordless panels on either side show equally involving scenes, all handsomely framed by depictions of cloth, beadwork, and vegetation. Brett invokes the African setting with details of the desert landscape and the animals' colorful, patterned clothing. The last page turns the story into an inspired pourquoi tale about dassies' habitat and the sootlike coloring of native eagles.--Medlar, Andrew Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Brett's sumptuous retelling of "The Three Little Pigs" is set in southern Africa and stars three small guinea-pig-like creatures that live in rock crevices in the Namib desert. The three dassies, garbed in traditional African dresses and turbans, are harassed by an eagle, who, like the wolf in the traditional tale, wants them for supper. He flies to the dassies' houses made of grass and sticks and screeches, "I'll flap and I'll clap and I'll blow your house in!" then captures them and plops them into his nest. On the side panels another story develops with a brightly dressed lizard, the Agama Man, who is intent on rescuing the little creatures. Children will enjoy following both stories and will linger on each page following the exacting detail of the setting: the desert, the characters, the decorative borders, and all the small touches in between. This tale will captivate children and introduce a setting and animals unfamiliar to most of them.-Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, Kearns Library, UT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
