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Beryl: A Pig's Tale (2010)

by Jane Simmons(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0316044105 (ISBN13: 9780316044103)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

review 1: 3 1/2 stars actually - my 9 year old says.Read for Animal Lovers Book ClubShe liked how it was written and liked = the story. She didn't like the very sad part (a death of a character.) She thought there needed to be more chapters to talk about what happened after the end of the book.I was slightly uncomfortable with the handling of the theme of motherhood, but I don't think my daughter picked up on it consciously or at least it didn't distract her from the story. The motherless pigs, Beryl & Amber, are very brave/independent and Dew, the pig with a mother, stutters. You are left to interpret that this stutter is caused by Dew's mother being so horrible. At one point in the book the characters discuss this briefly and say something about having no mother is better tha... moren having a bad one. This is a pretty debatable point. My daughter didn't know why Dew's mother was so bad. (She is portrayed as a sort of new-age coven leader (the Sisterhood) with confidence/prejudice issues. She is not mean to her daughter or the main character so it is a pretty subtle point for the main audience...) Anyway - like I said, this is an adult perspective and this didn't at all weigh in on my daughter's view of the book. We both loved the cutesy-poo piggy illustrations! I did appreciate the lovely adjectives throughout - lots of good vocabulary words!
review 2: My son loves pigs and read this book two years ago at school, but recently asked me to buy it for him so he could read it again. He liked it so much he asked me to read it. I thought it was terrific. Beryl is a little pig who has every reason not to want to be strong and make changes in her life but she's not afraid to try, and she helps others around her make changes in their lives too. The illustrations are wonderful, and there were many times I laughed out loud at the dry humor (especially of Sam the bear). Great book, both for kids and adults - especially if you like to read to your kids. less

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