In an irrev­er­ent, fun­ny (and quite kosher!) take on the clas­sic Three Lit­tle Pigs, Ann Dia­ment Koff­sky presents us with a sto­ry that teach­es us much about human nature, fam­i­ly, friend­ship, for­give­ness, and kind­ness, set dur­ing Sukkot.

Mama Sheep tells her sheeplings that they are grow­ing up and it is now time for them to strike out inde­pen­dent­ly, build­ing their very own sukkot. Jakey builds one from straw and Joey builds one from sticks, but Jen­nie builds hers with greater care. She uses bricks and oth­er stur­dy mate­ri­als, ensur­ing that her guests will be safe and secure. Of course, Wolfie comes by, huff­ing and puff­ing, blow­ing down the straw sukkah as well as the one made of sticks. The first two lit­tle pigs run to Jen­nie’s house in the hope of find­ing refuge. Jen­nie not only invites them in but also wel­comes Wolfie with warmth, accep­tance, and hos­pi­tal­i­ty. Wolfie, touched by Jen­nie’s gen­eros­i­ty, apol­o­gizes to her broth­ers for destroy­ing their sukkot and promis­es nev­er to do it again. They apol­o­gize to him, as well, for leav­ing him out and refus­ing a warm wel­come. The fol­low­ing year, they all cel­e­brate togeth­er with joy.

Chil­dren will love the rich­ly col­ored illus­tra­tions and will absorb the lessons of extend­ing a help­ing hand to all. The huts, built for observ­ing this out­door hol­i­day, are the per­fect back­drop for the mes­sage — tem­po­rary dwellings can lead to per­ma­nent under­stand­ing and won­der­ful rela­tion­ships. The folk­tale ele­ments, the Jew­ish ele­ments, and the car­ing shown to oth­ers com­bine into a heart­warm­ing and won­der­ful story.