Pig the Tourist

November 15, 2019
People who live in popular spots always complain when human tourists invade, but when the visitor is an unruly dog like Pig the pug, the situation gets even worse. The big-eyed, ill-behaved pug runs roughshod over everyone: his owner, a brown-skinned woman who remains faceless; Trevor, his owner's other dog, a big-eyed dachshund (every human and animal has large eyes in Blabey's amusing illustrations); and all the other people, animals, works of art, and architectural marvels encountered in Pig's world travels. Pig disrupts a Japanese geisha's lunch; he angers some scantily clad Caribbean carnival dancers; he breaks the head off the Sphinx in Egypt; and he disturbs the queen's tea and menaces her prize corgis, prompting the headline: "CHAOS AT THE PALACE: Queen shaken, not stirred." (Young readers will likely be unmoved by this joke.) Yes, the rhyming text is occasionally clever and the pictures are full of action, but there is nothing original in this skewed presentation of a few of the world's best-known, stereotypically presented tourist sites. Although Pig does get a well-deserved punishment for his rude behavior (piranhas attack when he least expects it), he still manages to get the last word when he stinks up first class with a very explicitly visual fart. The moral of the story? Leave Pig in the kennel when you travel. Everyone except die-hard Pig fans may skip this installment. (Picture book. 5-8)

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