Counting Pigs and Potatoes with Pigasso
Written: Dec 19 '07 (Updated Dec 19 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Delightful story. Magically sprinkled with pigsie dust!
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: This is an absolutely wonderful book with a fun story, endearing characters, and pigaresque illustrations.
Don't miss it.
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| nagels's Full Review: Anika Denise - Pigs Love Potatoes |
WARNING: Much of the spud plot is revealed here.
It’s just a little book about pigs. It's about potatoes too. It’s mostly a sparsely worded picture book of 32 pages. The intended audience seems to span ages 4 through 8. Thus “Pigs Love Potatoes” appears to be just so much verbal pablum. Or so one would think. From the first wide-eyed glance of the cover’s apron'd mother pig clutching a colander brimming with potatoes to the last sweet picture of two piglets cleaning their plates, the reader, no matter his or her age, senses the uncommonly special essence of this book. That elusive WOW factor is evidenced on every single jaw-dropping page.
Spudopsis
One pig wants potatoes so mamma starts cooking some. Another piglet enters the picture, and Mom tells both they must help. Sister joins in to make three, and when Pappa Piggy comes home, three becomes four. More pigs notice what’s happening. Soon there are five pigs, then six pigs, then seven pigs, then eight pigs, and then nine and ten pigs. Pigs demonstrate their love for potatoes by cleaning their plates, each and every one of them. The little hamlets clear their plates and kiss Mamma’s cheek when they are through.
Random Thoughts
There is so much to like about this spudtacular little gem. Mostly I like that the authors stay within certain boundaries, limiting the complexity of the plot, limiting the ambitiousness of word choices, and even limiting the number count to TEN. What they’ve created is a book with a great story, intrinsic didactic value, and elements that demand repetitive readings. It’s one of those special, children’s books worth purchasing, and a quality addition to the family library.
Christopher Denise’s illustrations are outstanding, warranting long looks and repeat visits. That his art was created with acrylic and charcoal on board means little to me, but the fabulous detail one these pages and the artist’s obvious talents do impress. His personification of the pigs is credible and effective with their humanlike gestures and emotive facial expressions. Even someone like myself who can barely draw a stick figure can appreciate, the dominant pastels and occasional contrasting bright colors. Texture, shadow, and minute detail work so well on conscious and unconscious levels. Details like the little pig tails and one little pig’s thick glasses add a richness and depth to the story and make this loving porcine family as endearing as any human household.
I like the consistency of sentence length, rhyme, and word choices. Since almost all pages have two or four lines per page, the page with one line and a pigture of the family waiting on a porch glider is an absolutely masterful, dramatic pause.
It’s a nice touch that the word numbers are capitalized for emphasis. I also like that the illustrations offer so much visual contextualization and opportunities for questioning, exploration, and conversation.
On many pages the reader sees the family’s cat, companion to the children and observer of family activities. The ever-present, docile feline adds a unifying element of consistency, familiarity, and genuine warmth to the story.
I remember telling my middle school students that I wanted those young writers to knock my socks off when I gave them a writing assignment. Rhode Islanders Anika and Christopher Denise have done that with Pigs Love Potatoes, a pigtorial book I highly recommend for children, their parents, and even their aunts and oinkles.
32 pages
5-8: age range of its readers
9.5 by 8.1 by .5 inches
489 words
74 sentences
Published June, 1977 (Philomel Books)
Manufactured in CHINA by South CHINA Printing Co. Ltd.
Interestingly an article in December 18’s Baltimore Sun states that China is the United States’ biggest offshore supplier of print products, chiefly books. It also states that China is believed to be the first country to invent paper, probably around the second century.
Since potatoes are eaten in the story, not pigs, I would guess that this book is certified Kosher.
Recommended:
Yes
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