Ten Moonstruck Piglets

PreS—This rhyming outing lacks plot but contains a reassuring level of adventure. In four-line stanzas, 10 piglets leave their beds and play outside in neighbors' yards, mud wallows, and more until clouds hide the Moon, an owl hoots, a fox comes out, and the frightened pigs call for Mama. She gets out of bed, recovers her brood, and tucks them in. Most of the rhymes work well, but the meter is weak in places and doesn't always scan well. Despite the title, the number of piglets is inconsequential to the text, with no counting involved. The acrylic illustrations are done primarily in deep blue tones to reflect the hour and the adventure. The porkers are wrinkly and piglike, all with pinkish skin, yet dressed in human clothes and walking on hind legs. They live in a house, as do the neighboring animals. The endpapers feature pictures of each pig, marked with their names, allowing young readers to identify individuals in the artwork. Everything is packed with detail, and the dark blues effectively imbue the illustrations with a sense of mystery and night. However, literal-minded listeners may be confused by the second-to-last stanza: "Back home in a heap/where the straw is so deep,/droopy-eyed piglets/tunnel swiftly to sleep" as the facing illustration depicts Mama tucking the piglets into distinctly human-style beds, albeit with straw mattresses. On the whole, this is a pleasant-enough picture book, but it is not outstanding in any way.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT