The Story of the Little Piggy Who Couldn't Say No

K-Gr 2—An odd story about friends who disappoint, told in rhyme. When Pig sets out to go swimming, she encounters a dog who pops her inner tube and a cat who tears apart her straw hat. When the badger eats all of the piggy's cookies, "he smacks his lips…./No more left? So what? Too bad." And when she tries to free a bear from a muddy bog, she falls in herself. "I helped you all, now don't you see?/Please grab hold and pull on me!" she says, and soon everyone is having a mud bath. The illustrations depict this pulling and falling as joyful, but there is a dark undertone. On their way home, the others suggest that they all meet the next day, but whether they will is ambiguous. "Piggy is tired. She just wants to rest." The illustrations of the animals are not endearing-especially as the text portrays them unsympathetically. The book is described as a story about standing up to friends, but Pig doesn't stand up to anyone. Perhaps this title would be a conversation-starter about what makes a good friend, but Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Are Friends (HarperCollins, 1970) is more fun.—Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College, Queens, NY