The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig

January 1, 2015
Can Pig and friend Duck best the evil chickens and escape Farmer's roasting oven?"Me I is Pig....I live in Pig House....I has only ever been called Pig, so Pig is my name." Pig writes (in Pig language-good thing we can read that!) in his diary, which he found with a chewed pen in the garbage. At first, Pig loves Farmer because of all of the slops. The chickens are evil because they are mean to Pig and his friends Duck and Cow. Pig loves eating and stinking up the chicken coop and making bubbles in Duck's pond with his farts. But when Pig discovers Farmer's plans for him (roasting), Pig agrees to act as pilot in the poo-powered tractor-rocket the chickens have created. The mission goes awry, but Pig and Duck hatch a new plan to rid the farm of evil...however it's going to take a lot of poo and no small amount of pig farts to enact. Those not initially bothered by Pig's simple sentences and difficulty with subject-verb agreement will no doubt laugh (a lot) at the goofy, scatological antics. Stamp's abundant line drawings and the smudgy pages (one can just imagine the slops on them) add to the fun. While practiced readers may grow tired of the faux bad grammar, kids who prioritize fart jokes over proper diction will hope the sequel hops the pond soon. (Humor. 7-11)

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February 1, 2015

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. VERDICT Purchase where there is a strong need for transitional chapter books.-Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Sacramento Public Library, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015
Grades 2-4 Readers with insatiable appetites for mentions of farts, gas, poop, and reeky muck will wallow in this slop-sational farmyard journal. Nattering on in semigrammatical bursts Today I is very happy! Farmer gave me two big dollops of slops. I ate them all very fast and they made me windy the naive porcine narrator describes the transformation of his halcyon world when, after ignoring many broad clues, he finally figures out he is destined for the farmer's table. Fortunately, the farm's sneering but able chickens have built a poo-powered tractor-rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket's shoddy navigation device goes haywire at Jupiter and lands Pig and his friend Duck back where they started. Pig, though, not quite as thick as he is fat, ultimately saves his own bacon with a clever scheme to get rid of the farmer and chickens, and closes with an appeal for a Vegytarian Farmer to keep the slops coming. The daily entries are presented in well-spaced lines of trotter-lettered but legible type with plenty of rude, crude cartoon illustrations and unidentifiable stains for additional . . . charm.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)