Three Little Pigs? A multi-cultural approach to learning compare and contrast!

One of the best ways to help children feel connected to reading is to recognize their culture in the books they read. We are all familiar with the Three Little Pigs, but are you aware of The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lovell?

In case you don’t know, a javelina, also know as a collared peccary, a tayaussa or a musk hog, inhabits the southwest deserts of the United States and areas southward through Central America to northern Argentina. Susan Lowell created a story, based on the Three Little Pigs, to honor the cultures of the American southwest:  Spanish, Anglo and native American. As students read about the the comical antics of the three little javelinas they identify with their own culture or learn more about the cultures of the people who settled the southwestern part of the United States.

Stories are a simple genre with which to begin the concept of compare and contrast. Children enjoy creating Venn diagrams or other graphic organizers to compare and contrast various versions of similar stories. Children can compare: “What is the same between the Three Little Javelinas and The Three Little Pigs? What are the differences?”