The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City
Series: Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City, Book 1
By: Jodi Kendall / Narrated By: Cassandra Morris
Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
Simply written, but nicely done!
NATURALLY Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter raved about this book: They are, after all, authors of Esther the Wonder Pig. But after having rolled my eyes through its sequel, Happily Ever Esther, I was feeling a bit of trepidation on going into this, The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City. Just cuz it’s got a pig in it doesn’t mean it’s all fantastic and everything, ya know?
But I’d dearly liked narrator Cassandra Morris who, I believe is also Cassandra Lee Morris who did Caterpillar Summer (Honestly, I played the samples side by side and it’s the same narrator…). So the book had narrator as a Plus going for it.
The story follows big brother Tom, visiting from college for Thanksgiving Day, fessing up to the laaaaarge Tilling family that that thing wrapped in his football jersey is a purloined piglet, saved from a Bacon Factory. Dad says there’s no way they’re keeping it; it HAS to go, Bacon Factory or no. But our heroine, Josie, is absolutely smitten. She swears to her family that she’ll be entirely responsible for it, just give her a bit of time to find it a home. Dad gives her until New Year’s Day.
And thus, chaos begins.
Josie learns how hard it is to keep little, wellll, she’s not little for long, Hamlet cared for and out of trouble. And it’s not like she has the money to buy Hamlet food for so long; the large Tilling family gets by, but every purchase is well-considered. Then there’s the fact that their house in the city is right up on other houses; this makes that cat flap in grouchy Mrs. Traglione’s house sooo available when there are tempting smells of corn chowder wafting from within.
What I liked about the story is that it’s not just about Josie trying to wangle her way into keeping Hamlet; it’s about feeling invisible with a brother and so many sisters around. It’s about wanting to cry when busy Dad’s looking down at his computer just when you nailed a perfect back tuck in gymnastics class.
It’s also about how you identify yourself, as Josie struggles to be Hamlet’s caretaker, the best gymnast she can be, a dutiful daughter, and a sibling who shows up. Tack onto that learning to look more deeply than going by shallow judgments, and you’ve got a sweet little story chock-full of nifty “lessons” for kids, all as it avoids being preachy or sentimental.
I loved it, even if the writing wasn’t as powerful as Pax (also done this week). It was simply written, well-narrated, and the Happily Ever After came with some heartache.
You know, so kids won’t get any grand ideas that Life is a bowl of cherries…
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