Oink? (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Oink? Loretta Gaffney Palatini, Margie Oink?; illus. by Henry Cole. Simon, 200640p ISBN 0-689-86258-X$15.95 R 3-8 yrs Thomas and Joseph, two pigs, are content to wallow in their own filth, but the neighbors are starting to complain—the hens deplore the untidy, muddy pig sty, the rabbit is scandalized at the lack of greens amid the fertilizer, and the duck complains of the stink that travels downwind to its pond. The pigs can't be bothered to dignify such criticisms with any response other than "Oink," a grunting refrain that seems to be their answer to everything. Finally fed up with Thomas and Joseph's squalor, the pigs' neighbors take matters into their own beaks, bills, and paws, giving the pigpen a Martha Stewart-style makeover complete with a painted fence, fresh-picked vegetables, and a custom-dug water hole for bathing. After valiant efforts to involve the pigs in their own sty's renovation fail, the duck, rabbit, and hens give up, doing all the work themselves. Their collective snerk at the stupidity of the incompetent pigs abruptly shifts into a slapstick jaw-drop in awe at the way Thomas and Joseph dodged all the hard work. Cole's animated illustrations (in line and watercolor touched with colored pencil) specialize in broad caricatures of world-weary barnyard denizens, complete with huffy hens (wings folded over heaving chests) and bleary-eyed pigs resembling nothing so much as a hungover but good-natured pair of uncles. This barnyard romp with a sly concluding twist provides a guilty pleasure untainted by moralizing for the slacker in all of us; whether the lolling pigs masterminded the renovation of their pen without lifting a hoof or [End Page 417] were simply the beneficiaries of a neighborhood improvement committee unable to delegate, young audiences will appreciate the irony of the story's end. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois