The Top Secret Diary of Pig

Gr 1–3—An innocent pig attempts to escape his cruel fate in this illustrated early chapter book. Pig loves his life at the farm: he gets plenty of slops and back scratches from the farmer, he has Duck and Cow to keep him company, and the trouble-making chickens can be quickly dispatched with a few well-placed farts. But when Duck finally explains just what the farmer has in store for his beloved "Roast Pig," Pig is devastated by the betrayal. Fortunately, the chickens are evil geniuses, and they want Pig to fly their newly invented Trocket (tractor-rocket) to Pluto, offering Pig an opportunity to escape his impending slaughter. Plenty of hilarious mishaps ensue, with Pig drawing on all of his ingenuity to find a way to rid himself of both the farmer and those meddling chickens once and for all. Pig's story is written in a diary format with childlike black ink cartoons adding plenty of humor. His earnest voice and love of silly bathroom humor will appeal to the youngest independent readers, though they may struggle a bit with his awkward grammar (Human isn't Pig's first language) and occasional British slang terms, such as sat nav for GPS.