Suddenly!: A Preston Pig Story
Ages 3-7. Every time Preston "suddenly!" deviates from his path, he just misses being gobbled up by the big, bad wolf stalking the pink, plump pig. Clueless, Preston safely negotiates the walk home from school, going to the grocery store, returning to school to collect his grocery money, stopping at the park to play, collecting the groceries at the store, and coming home to his mother's arms. The incompetent wolf ends up being carried off to Wolf Hospital. The humor is visual, the mayhem is of the "Coyote and Roadrunner" cartoon variety, and the soft and sunny pastel-colored pencil-and-watercolor illustrations keep the mood light and jolly. This one-joke picture book, from the author-illustrator of Making Friends with Frankenstein: A Book of Monstrous Poems and Pictures (1994), is deftly executed and designed to amuse a young audience that will appreciate being in on the joke. Annie Ayres (Booklist - Annie Ayres)PreSchool-Grade 1 Disaster waits in the form of a wild-eyed, drooling wolf, but you couldn't prove it by Preston the Pig. Children meet him on his way home from school, the wolf's shadow lurking ominously behind him "when SUDDENLY!" the young porker remembers his mother had asked him to go to the store. Many more hilariously breathtaking moments follow as he unknowingly foils the predator. McNaughton peppers the narrative with big, bold use of the word "SUDDENLY," and readers are sure they will turn the page to discover fat little Preston locked in the beast's mangy jaws. Instead, the wolf encounters one disaster after another: falling off the school roof; swallowing a big, tough bully; and crashing a steamroller into a wall. When the pig arrives home, it looks like he may meet his nasty fate as a strangely lupine silhouette lurks at the kitchen sink. True to Preston's luck, it is only his mother, who turns around to give him a big hug. Young readers will delight in knowing more than the happily oblivious porcine hero. The art is ideal for group sharing, on a much larger scale than Guess Who's Just Moved In Next Door? (Random, 1991; o.p.). This story will make a good combination with other fairy tales in which all the pigs might not experience such a happy ending, and is a refreshing relief from the classic tale where the only way to save your hide is to be smart, industrious, and build a very strong house. Zany fun that's perfect for young audiences. Lisa S. Murphy, formerly at Dauphin County Library System, Harrisburg, PA (School Library Journal)