Piggies in Pajamas

January 15, 2013
The piggies may be in their pajamas, but they have little interest in snoozing. While Mama's in the kitchen and Papa is working late, the shoats make merry. "Piggies in pajamas, / jumping in the air, / tossing up the pillows, / popcorn in their hair." The five little piggies of various ages finish their jumping and use their imaginations. First they are mountain climbers and simultaneously ocean divers, but "THUMP, THUMP. / OINK, OINK-- / All the piggies fall. / STOMP, STOMP, / STOMP, / STOMP-- / 'Mama's in the hall!' " They hurry up to hide in bed and wait to make sure Mama's not coming. Then it's off to pretend to be a train until they hear the stomping again! Hide under the covers...and then a pillow fight when the coast is clear. But a scratching branch at the window sounds like a wolf or a fox or a bear! Those piggies know the best place to go when they're scared! Mama's bed is big and cozy: "Good night, piggies!" Meadows and Hoyt team up again for another tale of porcine mischief (Piggies in the Kitchen, 2011). Little listeners will see themselves in Meadows' friendly, creative rhymes (though the noisy onomatopoeia might not make for the best bedtime read). Hoyt's pale watercolors of full-bleed rambunctiousness (with occasional insets of a suspicious Mama downstairs) are a terrific match. Piggies in pajamas: pure porky pleasure! (Picture book. 2-7)

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March 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 1-While their mom is distracted with phone calls, five porcine siblings who do not want to go to bed get into all kinds of mischief in this rhyming tale. They jump in the air, toss up the pillows, and get popcorn in their hair. Bed sheets transform into a mountain-climbing rope, and their bunk beds provide the perfect ascent. But then it sounds like Momma is coming their way, so the piglets hide underneath the covers, snuggle up, and pretend to be asleep until their mother is on the phone again. This time they are a train engine and cars, rolling down the track, "Toot, Toot, /Oink, Oink/Stomp, Stomp, Stomp, Stomp." But it sounds like Momma is coming back, so they climb into bed again and pretend to be asleep-until the coast is clear once more. The game continues until something outside makes a scary scritchy-scratchy sound at the window. Then all five piggies end up in their mother's bed, and they snuggle in for a good night's sleep. The illustrations, done in pen and ink and pastel watercolor, are playful and soft. This book presents a theme that is universal, and children will relate to the siblings enjoying some of their best fun at bedtime. A fine stand-alone or companion piece to Piggies in the Kitchen (S & S, 2011).-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2013
Preschool-G Fresh from the chaos of Piggies in the Kitchen (2011), five rambunctious piglets in pj's make a wild rumpus in their bedroompunctuated by false alarms that Mama is on her way upstairs. Meadows tells the tale in a patterned, percussive mix of quick rhymes and sound effect words Piggies in pajamas, / whirl around the room. / Cartwheels and somersaults / BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! to which Hoyt adds scenes of scribbly, rumpled bedlam that are both toned down by subdued colors and charged up by exaggeratedly high-, low-, and acute-angled points of view. Finally, spooked by an outside shadow, the piggies creep down the hall to visit Mama in the parental bed, and all snuggle down. Though overly analytical young listeners may wonder where Papa, mentioned as on his way home, is going to fit in the crowded bed, the episode's arc and antics make it a fine cousin to Eileen Christelow's stories featuring five wound-up little monkeys.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)