Meet Wild Boars (Picture Puffins) [Hardcover]

Meg Rosoff (Author)

Book Description

Series: Picture Puffins | Publication Date: August 4, 2005

Meet Boris, Morris, Horace and Doris, four rude, smelly, bad tempered boars. Never, ever let them into your home - Horace will soak in the toilet for hours, he'll eat your soap, clip his toenail in bed and be rude to your pets! As for Doris, she has never been good, not for one single second, not once, not ever - you have been warned.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-In this silly cautionary tale, Rosoff presents the catastrophic results of friendships with wild boars that are "dirty and smelly, bad-tempered and rude." Horace will "cut the strings off your puppets" and "make fun of your feet," Morris shares his fleas, Boris leaves a smelly trail of destruction, and Doris is "uglier than an Ugli fruit." Like cunning children without manners, these creatures lack the ability to say "excuse me" or "please"; they break toys, stomp on treats, soak in the toilet, and devour treasures. It's clear they can not be trusted. The wily quartet appears dressed for play in cartoon displays of their unmannered excesses. Large, gouache illustrations follow the snort, stomp, and smell of the boars viewed either from a safe vantage point or eyeball to eyeball. The artist's attention to detail underscores the tiniest hairs and the grimiest clothes, down to the minute bow on Doris's head. The animals' eyes reveal their true deceitful nature in encounters with trusting children. An entertaining choice for independent reading or group sharing.-Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. Rosoff, winner of the 2005 Michael L. Printz Award for her YA novel How I Live Now (see The Booklist Interview, p.1289), does a 180 in this picture book about dirty, stinky, mean boars. Yet there is a thread between the two books. Both are bitingly funny and deeply satisfying--each on its own level, of course. Morris, Boris, Horace, and Doris don't like others, and don't want others to like them. Consequently, being polite to Boris results in a tusk in the butt. If you try to help Horace with his mittens, he'll make a nasty smell and snort with laughter. Doris may be the worst case, though--the stinkiest, ugliest, bossiest boar of all. If the boars say they'll be nice when they visit your home, don't believe them. They'll do everything from soaking in your toilet to cutting the string off your puppets. Doris will eat your stuffed animals. So, everyone agrees that there is no such thing as a nice wild boar, but--as the final picture shows--you may run into one that is sweet ("though chances are that you won't"), and then you will be amazed. Blackall's roll-on-the-ground-in-laughter illustrations are incisively rendered in ink and gouache. There's not a bad habit, predilection, or odor that isn't described or drawn, and the boars' sly reactions to the havoc they cause are priceless. Let's hope for more from this disgustingly delightful group. Wild, they may be. Bores, they are not. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Childrens Hardbacks; 1St Edition edition (August 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141381779
• ISBN-13: 978-0141381770
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,830,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, educated at Harvard and St Martin's College of Art, and worked in New York City for ten years before moving to London permanently in 1989. She worked in publishing, politics, PR and advertising until 2004, when she wrote her first novel, How I Live Now, which won the Guardian Children's fiction prize (UK), Michael L Printz prize (US), the Die Zeit children's book of the year (Germany) and was shortlisted for the Orange first novel award. Her second novel, Just in Case, won the 2007 Carnegie Medal. Meg's latest book is The Bride's Farewell. She lives in London with her husband, daughter and two very hairy dogs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hilarious parable about bad manners, July 28, 2005

By 

Corinne Colbert "Corkey C." (Athens, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Wild Boars (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

The four boars in this book are really boors -- the kind of playmates no child would want. The text is ideal for read-aloud, and the illustrations are witty and sly. Be forewarned: Those offended by farts and poop need not apply. My 7- and 5-year-olds have asked for this every night since we brought it home from the library. I think it will turn up for a birthday or Christmas!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breath of Fresh Air, January 14, 2006

By 

Russell Crabtree "Russell Crabtree" (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Wild Boars (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

I've never laughed so much reading a book to my kids. The words are witty and the pictures are hilarious. Oh and the kids like it, too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your average PiggieWiggies., January 10, 2006

By 

T. Hardy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Wild Boars (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) (Hardcover)

Not all adults are vegans, not all of us are patient, not all of us believe in angels. Kids know this. So why not vary their diet of Polar Expresses, Flopsy Bunnies and Flower Fairies with an amusing tale about life's darker facets. If you and your 5 year-old liked Walter the Farting Dog, which tells us that not all cuddly young puppies grow up to be loveable old dogs, you should pick up Meet Wild Boars. This quirkily illustrated book puts paid to any idea that animals in gingham dresses are automatically cute; Doris the Wild Boar and her pals are sly, spiteful, rude, malodorous and bent on destruction. Meg Rosoff has created a quartet of little monsters that kids will love to laugh at .