Customer Reviews

A Treeful of Pigs

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Treeful of Pigs is a book that teaches a lesson. A lazy farmer sits in bed all day and sleeps while his wife takes care of the pigs. The farmers wife finally tricks him to get out of bed by hiding the pigs and telling him that they are lost. This book shows that you cannot be lazy and rely on others to get the work done.

I teach young children and they enjoy this story. We count the pigs on each page and sometimes I lead a chant like: "One two three four, five six seven eight, nine ten eleven twelve pigs!" From some of these reviews, it seems like people overanalyze this story quite a bit! It's just a silly story, and children know that. My only quibble is that the illustrations are a bit too complicated for very young children, who prefer bold and big pictures. But it's wonderful for kindergarteners and first graders.

loved the way story unfolds and the gentle way of teaching the lesson. it is funny and wise at the same time - kids love it!

This book we checked out from the library as we love Arnold Lobel and his Frog and Toad series and his Owl at Home. We were very disappointed.

It is the unloving and unrealistic story of a woman who married poorly; her husband is an unloving liar and doesn't care at all about keeping his word or helping his wife and is a lazy loser. And yet, suddenly, he 'changes'. Oh please! I hope no one reads this to their children and sends the message that a woman can change her abusive husband or a husband can count on abusing his wife and getting away with it.

And think carefully before you think I'm over analyzing; children don't have any filters at all before the age of 6 to reason on what they are told and these gender/relationship messages are so pervasive and spreading in all cultures.

Arnold, we are so disappointed with this lousy story. If it could have been ranked with zero, we would have.

I do not understand who would think that this teaches such a poor lesson about lying. On my journey of becoming a teacher I have put a lot of time into analyzing children's books. Fiction books are meant to be just that, fiction. Fictional journeys and unrealistic adventures that children can imagine. I have a daughter and students, none of which got anything about lying or abuse out of this book. I myself remember hearing this story in elementary school and even coming from an abusive background I have never thought that until I read the one review. I wanted parents to know that this is a great book about a moral lesson-- to not be lazy, it does not pay off. You should stick to your priorities and complete the tasks and jobs that you have in your life. This is a book to enjoy with you children as I do mine and we truly love this. I hope you all enjoy this as well :)

I read this book many years ago when my mom signed me up for a special program to get me interested in reading. I still remember how hilarious I found the story, and the illustrations kept with the pace of it. I still remember that book after all this time, and that was about 27 years ago. I would recommend this to any parent who is trying to get their kids interested in reading--if this book doesn't do it, nothing will.

Very good lesson on being lazy. Message is put across in a very funny and cute way. Illustrations are very funny and keep the story moving.

I like to begin some of my reviews with heartfelt confessions. It's what I do. Now, I'm going to admit right here and now that my very first impressions of this book come from the tender age of five. When I was a child my mother would read this story to me quite regularly. It was, undoubtedly, one of her favorites. She would give each and every character (of which there are two) special voices and cadences for each and every line. The fact of the matter? The book did nothing for me. I liked it okay. There were the funny pigs (perpetually amused in any and all situations) and bright colorful characters. I liked the farmer's wife outwitting her lazy husband too but as favorite books went I much preferred my Steven Kellogg or my "Ultra Violet Catastrophe". So in mid-2004 I have returned to this book that once elicited from me the childhood equivalent of a shrug. I picked it up, read it through once, read it through twice and came to an unavoidable conclusion: It hasn't changed. Or rather, I haven't. This is a beautiful book, no question, with hundreds of tiny things to love and enjoy. It just doesn't make my tiny heart go pitter-pat in the least.

Once, as the story relates, there was a lazy farmer and his wife. One day, the man decides to buy about a dozen pigs. The wife worries that such pigs will be too much work, but the husband assures her that they'll raise them together. The next day, however, the man refuses to get out of bed. When the wife asks when he'll be getting up he responds, "On the day that pigs bloom in the garden like flowers. On that day I will help you plant the corn". That very next day the man goes to his window to find all one dozen pigs blooming in the garden. This doesn't faze him much so he goes back to bed. As time goes by the wife has more and more jobs that need to be done and the husband comes up with even loonier reasons for not helping. Sometimes he'll help when pigs grow in the trees (which they do thanks to a little rope). Or he'll get up when they fall from the sky like rain (some cushiony straw helps with that trick). When the husband finally just wishes they'd disappear altogether, the next day finds him shocked to see they're all gone. With that, the husband is told by his wife that the only way she'll help him look for the pigs is when he jumps out of bed, dresses, and promises never to be lazy again. He does so (showing far more of his rear than you'd ever really want to see) and lo and behold the pigs spring out of the root cellar. From that time onward he was never lazy again.

It's a cute story, no question, but such an odd one. Little questions arise in my mind... why did he care that the pigs disappeared when he hardly gave them a second glance? Why the gratuitous butt shot? Why did the wife keep doing silly things with the pigs when he obviously wasn't moved by the crazy pig stunts? The pigs are especially cute here, and it is a relief to see them smiling cannily in each and every situation. The husband and wife team that wrote and illustrated this book (Arnold and Anita Lobel) are to be commended for their entirely new fable. Just the same, the book lacks that little something extra that keeps you coming back for more. I speak from a bias that is roughly two decades old, so you'll probably find I'm wrong. Just the same, I do recommend that you seek out this story and read it for yourself. You may just find it's exactly what you've been seeking all along. Plus, cute pigs.