If You Give A Pig A Pancake
Written by Laura Numeroff
Illustrated by Felicia Bond
Reviewed by Alan M. (age 28)
What happens when a pig comes over for breakfast? Will she ask for maple syrup? Will she tap dance? Will she make a tree house? According to Laura Numeroff, the pig may do all these things and much more.
The story begins as a piglet interrupts a girl who is having breakfast. The girl offers the piglet a pancake. You would think the piglet would be satisfied with that, but instead she asks for some syrup. The girl complies. Soon, the pig makes many more requests, such as asking the girl to take her picture, mail some letters, and find materials for making a tree house.
In my favorite part of the book, the girl tries to find a rubber ducky for the pig, who wants to take a bath. Meanwhile, you can see the pig in the background pouring a box of bubble powder into the bathtub. This pig is never satisfied!
In some ways, a book is about how friends often ask you to do them favors, and how happy your friends can be if you help them out. The book shows that you can have fun doing favors for your friends, too.
The story is funny because the piglet enjoys doing unusual things such as rubbing sticky things all over her body and tap dancing. Also, the illustrations complement the story very well. They give you a strong sense of the piglet's character and help you visualize the piglet's adventures. The pictures are quite detailed, so I didn't notice certain things about them until I re-read the book.
I recommend this book to people who like reading stories about animals interacting with people. I also recommend this book to 5 to 8 year-old girls, because the girl in the story is about that age. People who like clever illustrations would probably enjoy the pictures in this book. Finally, if you enjoyed If You Give a Mouse a Cookie or If You Give a Moose a Muffin by the same author, you may like this book.