Customer Reviews

The Book of Pigericks

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i owned this book when i was a wee one, and i've since given it away to be enjoyed by other young children. it was always a childhood favorite of mine, one that was simple enough to read to myself, but also with some challenging words (like the uncouth pig from duluth). the pictures are also great, but of course that is to be expected from lobel.

i was surprised to see the rather negative reviews this book has received so far, and i do not feel that they are merited. the book may not be as wonderfully whimsical as lobel's frog and toad series, but it does have great charm and humor. the repetitiveness of the short poems is very appealing to young children. this is not a children's book to be enjoyed by all ages; it's a children's book to be enjoyed by children.

"There was a," begins every limerick by Arnold Lobel in his book, "The Book of Pigericks."

Arnold Lobel's art is par excellence. His "Frog and Toad" books, for example, have become standards in libraries across America. Here, his art still shines. His limericks are so-so.

To compare Arnold Lobel to Edward Lear is unfair. However, no mention of limericks can be done without invoking the name of the great wit Lear. See his limericks and find out why. What is fair is comparing Lobel to Lobel. This is not Lobel's best work.

Great limericks require an intuitive sense of meter, and where and how syllables change their pace. Lobel slips here and there, and could have edited his collection better.

To be expected, there is a pig from Nantucket. There is also one from North Stowe, Glens Falls, Palm Springs, Schenectady ("my neck today"), Duluth, and Chanute. Pigs live everywhere, and do almost anything, except pig things. The limericks lack proper pigness. Lobel could have replaced "pig" with other one syllable animals, like cat, dog or bird, and his limericks would not change at all.

The pictures are all pig, and very fun. Pig pictures, like monkey pictures, somehow always look silly. Lobel extracts every kind of goofy pig situation possible.

A few of the limericks might find their way into anthologies, but on the whole, Lobel wasted his great skill as an artist. He is a great writer too, but this book is one of his best.

Anthony Trendl

editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This book contains 38 limericks, all about pigs with human traits. Each limerick also has a nice illustration to go with it. However, I found this large number of pig limericks to be a bit overdone; it would have been nice if the book had contained limericks of many different types of animals, and not just pigs. I also found some of the limericks to be a bit difficult for a child to follow. But if your goal is to teach children the structure of how to write a limerick, then the repetition of the same theme, over and over, could enforce the pattern in their minds.