March 1 – Pig Day

Happy Pig Day!

Happy Pig Day! written and illustrated by Mo Willems (2011)

Piggy is super excited to tell his best friend Gerald that it’s Happy Pig Day. ‘Oinky! Oink! Oink!’ But Gerald is sad. He is not a pig. He cannot celebrate Pig Day. Then Piggy shows him that Pig Day is for Anyone… Who! Loves! Pigs! Underneath the piggy costumes are some of Piggy’s friends.

The Old Woman and Her Pig written by Margaret Read MacDonald and illustrated by John Kanzler (2007)

This Appalachian folktale is about an old woman who goes to town to buy a fat pig. She is so happy, she dances a jig down the road, across the bridge, and to the marketplace. She gave Mr. Pig Farmer a shiny copper penny and looked around for the fattest little pig of all. Little Pig was so happy to be going home with her that he ran along behind her. As she danced her jiggly-jig, he squealed oink oink oink. But when they cam to the bridge, Little Pig squealed EEEEEEE and refused to cross. The old woman pushed and pulled but she couldn’t get that pig to cross the bridge. She cried and cried until a dog came along. But the dog wouldn’t help her. And the rat wouldn’t help her. Finally a cat came along who promised to help. He worried the rat, who bit the dog, who barked at the pig. And they all ran across the bridge as fast as they could and returned home just as the moon was shining in the sky.

Pig written by Jules Older and illustrated by Lyn Severance (2004)

This is an entertaining book about pigs. Pig facts and figures on every page. There’s information about everything from where pigs live int he world to how long pigs have been in the world… answer: 40 million years, 39 million years longer than humans! Bright piggy drawings help tell the story of pigs. For example did you know that the largest pig ever recorded was a Poland-China pig? It was called Big Bill and he weighed 2552 pounds, was 9 feet long, 5 feet high, and his belly dragged on the ground. But he was not from Poland or China, he came from Ohio!