1st March Pig Day

In the USA it is National Pig Day on the 1st March. Dick King Smith would be pleased, because as a pig farmer he thought all pigs were beautiful and wrote a book saying so. Even if you don't think they are beautiful  you do have to wonder why they are so endearing in so many children's books. Take the phenomena of Peppa Pig. The three and four year olds that use the library just cannot get enough of her. The box that houses her books is always empty. Olivia, another well known pig who has a box to herself and then there's Wibbly Pig.  

Then the preschoolers start school and the boxes of Elephant and Piggie  become the new favourites.  

By Year 2 , a new series about pigs becomes a favourite - Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo. See, pigs everywhere! Year 2 also love Pigsticks and Harold, Wilbur  from Charlotte's Web  and Babe or The Sheep Pig, from Dick King Smith's book.

Below are some examples of books from series that could be included in a library display. 

Peppa Pig

Wibbly Pig  by Mick Inkpen

Olivia  by Ian Falconer

If You Give a Pig ... by Laura Numeroff

Toot and Puddle  by Hollie Hobbie

Rufus by Kim Griswell

Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems

A Pig, A Fox... by Jonathan Fenske

A Pig in a Wig by Emma J. Virjan

Pigsticks and Harold  by Alex Milway

Mercy Watson by Kate DeCamillo

Then you can explore all the stand alone stories, the nonfiction about pigs, The Three Little Pigs  fairytale and all the spoofs that go with it and series for older readers like Pow Pow Pig and Nanny Piggins. See Pinterest board for more titles.

1st March Pig Day

In the USA today it is National Pig Day. Dick King Smith would be pleased, because as a pig farmer he thought all pigs were beautiful and wrote a book saying so. Even if you don't think they are beautiful  you do have to wonder why they are so endearing in so many children's books. Take the phenomena of Peppa Pig.  The three and four year olds just cannot get enough of her. The box that houses her books is always empty. Wibbly Pig  is another favourite with the preschoolers and we have a box full of them as well. Then the preschoolers start school and the boxes of Elephant and Piggie  become the new favourites.  By Year 2 , a new series about pigs becomes a favourite - Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo. See, pigs everywhere! Year 2 also love Wilbur  from Charlotte's Web  and Babe or The Sheep Pig, as Dick King Smith's book was called long before the movie popularised it.

Walking through Big W yesterday I saw a large print,  hardback Charlotte's Web with Garth William's illustrations coloured in. Such a bargain at $18.00.

Added to these books are other series such as Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Pig ..., Colin McNaughton's Preston Pig, Kristi Yamaguchi's ice-skating Poppy  and the numerous versions of The Three Little Pigs  and the myriad of spoofs or fractured versions of it. And how many children's books are called Pigs Can't Fly? Obviously we should be celebrating Pigs!

20th September Arthur Geisert (1941)

American Arthur Geisert, trained as a sculptor, but is now an illustrator and storyteller who has a fascination with etching and pigs. I too, love etchings and the detail that is possible with black lines. His books are often textless or have very minimal text so they rely on the reader to create  their own story. My favourite story of his, Ice is textless and features pigs. This community of pigs is suffering because it is so hot and they go in search of ice. It then becomes a tale of inventiveness, change and adventure. My favourite illustrations though are in the sequel to Ice, The Giant Seed,  where this time, the pigs need to get creative when their home is destroyed by a volcano. Luckily, beforehand they had buried a large mysterious seed. This seed features on the cover and I would dearly love to own a copy of that particular etching.  His books highlight themes such as ingenuity, problem-solving, creative thinking and coping with change. Great for circle time, group discussion and thinking routines. They just need to be published as big books!

Unlike Dick King-Smith, Geisert was not a pig farmer, but who would have thought you could make porcine creatures so endearing.