From Publishers Weekly
Newcomer Briggs presents a snappy story featuring four porcine siblings with ambitious aspirations: Violet longs to become an acrobat, Wilfred a tenor, Byron a poet and Hobart a tap-dancer. Yet when an arrogant cow arrives on the farm and greets them, Hello there, pork chops.... Oh didn't you know? That's what all pigs come to, in the end, the despondent pigs are ready to abandon their dreams. All but ever-hopeful Hobart (No one seemed to know why Hobart was hopeful, or how he got that way), who convinces the others to dig their way under the barnyard fence to escape the clutches of the meat man who plans to buy them from the impoverished farmer. The determined quartet spends months in the remote hills, honing their skills until they are ready to return to the farm to perform and raise enough money for the farmer to pay his bills. Briggs slyly slips a message about perseverance and believing in oneself into her narrative, which she peppers with wry lines. When his siblings inform him of their impending sale to the meat man, Hobart protests, They can't eat artists! and Wilfred responds, Artists today, picnic hams tomorrow. Rayner (illustrator of Babe) once again packs a lot of character into her simple halftone drawings. She humorously captures both the exasperation and exhilaration of these spunky swine. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
reSchool-Grade 3-A slight fantasy about an optimistic piglet and his three siblings that save themselves from being turned into pork chops by developing their unique talents for verse, singing, tap dancing, and acrobatics. The villain, a man who wants to buy or else kidnap the pigs, and the kindly farmer are just sketched in, and shades of Babe and Charlotte's Web hover over the plot. In this story, the pigs speak not only to other animals, but ultimately to the farmer as well. The black-and-white pencil drawings that decorate the tale are well done and appropriate, but one must wonder why the pigs are wearing clothes.
Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
