Pig Tale

Synopsis

A warm sty to lie in and cool mud for a wallow are not enough to satisfy two bored pigs named Bertha and Briggs. Their minds are bent on money and riches. So when they find a treasure chest, they head straight for town. They buy dresses and suits, an expensive new car, and a house filled with gadgets. Now they'll live the good life.

But the gadgets cause a lot of trouble. The car breaks down; the washer overflows; the TV goes on the blink. Bertha and Briggs are working so hard, they have no time to play! Soon their new clothes are thrown to the wind, and two happy pigs head back to the country for a carefree roll in the mud.

Helen Oxenbury gleefully illustrates Bertha and Briggs bumbling their way through a life of luxury. And kids will agree that romping and playing beat mowing the lawn any day!

Publishers Weekly

Money can't buy happiness-or so two greedy pigs learn in Oxenbury's (We're Going on a Bear Hunt) delightful picture book. Buoyant verse introduces Bertha and Briggs, porcine protagonists who had plenty to eat,/ a warm sty with a thatch,/ an orchard to play in/ and trees for a scratch. But puddles of mud can't satisfy their itch for riches (only then would they really be happy, they knew). When the two pigs discover a treasure chest, it seems like their dream has come true. But the car they buy (from a Yellow Submarine-era John Lennon lookalike) breaks down, and their dream house requires constant upkeep. What is there to do but return to their old wallow: To be careless and free and to romp and to play/ was all that they wanted to do every day. In a series of amusing spot illustrations, they gleefully shed their clothes and push the pesky car into a pond. Oxenbury proves again that she is a master of visual storytelling. In their tacky clothes, Bertha and Briggs exude self-satisfaction, then doubt creeps into their pudgy faces. Oxenbury mars these later images with ink splatters, smudges and scratches, highlighting the pigs' dissatisfaction. Her less is more lesson may be lost on children at the younger side of the age range, but the pigs' endearing silliness, coupled with readable rhymes, make a highly entertaining read. Ages 3-6. (July) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.