Module 8: The Great Pig Search

Book Summary

Bert and Ethel’s pigs escape from the back of their truck on the way to market. The entire town looks for them, and the mysteriously disappearing clothes, but no one can find them. Then a mysterious postcard from a town in Florida arrives, with the only message of “Oink!” Bert can’t quit thinking about the missing pigs and is humiliated, Ethel suggests a vacation to get away from thinking about the missing pigs, and Bert, who cannot quit thinking about the missing pigs, buys bus tickets for the town in Florida from which the postcard was sent. Throughout the vacation, Bert is obsessed and thinks he sees pigs everywhere. In truth, they are everywhere, though they are dressed as humans, but he can’t see it. Bert attacks a human, thinking it’s one of the pigs, which lands him in jail. Finally, they go deep sea fishing, Bert falls overboard, but the boat pilot rescues him. Bert is happy to have caught a huge fish, which he and Ethel take home with them on the bus. On the way home, Ethel shows him the newspaper. There he finds a story about his being rescued by the boat pilot, one of his own pigs.

APA Reference of Book

Christelow, E. (2001). The great pig search. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

Impressions

This is a good book for very young readers, possibly to be used at story time. The plot and characters are simply drawn, and the illustrations provide much for little readers to find. The ink drawings with color wash are simple and colorful. Throughout the story, as the farmer looks for his pigs, you can find pigs everywhere just walking around, driving the taxi, giving Bert and Ethel their rooms keys, and even driving the boat from which Bert is thrown. Bert cannot relax on his vacation, and instead keeps looking for the pigs when they are in front of him the whole time. The simple messages of the book for small readers is that things are not always as we see them, and to not let the small stuff get in the way of living your life.

Professional Review

Christelow's watercolor and pen-and-India-ink cartoonlike illustrations do a fabulous job of reinforcing the mood and action of the text. They begin "telling" the story on the cover, move to the front endpapers and title-page spread, then blend with and extend the text throughout the book. Some spreads are fully illustrated. In others, the text is on white with the illustrations above, below, or next to it. Some drawings are framed and placed over others or on the white background. Because the illustrations play such an integral role in this comical adventure, it is best suited to independent reading as well as small-group sharing. A sure hit.

Simonetta, K., Jones, T. E., Toth, L., Charnizon, M., Grabarek, D., & Larkins, J. (2001, 

       September). The great pig search [Review of the book The great pig search, by E. 

       Christelow]. School Library Journal, 47(9), 185.

Library Uses

This book could be used as independent reading by the very young after it has been used in a storytime. The librarian could use a felt board to tell the story, and the partners or groups could read together and find all the hiding pigs.