Reviewed by: Little Oink Deborah Stevenson Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Little Oink; illus. by Jen Corace. Chronicle, 2009 25p. ISBN 978-0-8118-6655-2 $14.99 R 3–6 yrs Little Oink is mostly in hog heaven—he likes school, he enjoys playing with his friends, and he has a happy home—but for one thing: his parents insist that he mess up his room like a proper pig every day. The tidy little porker whines and sulks (“When I grow up, I’m going to let my kids clean up their rooms as much as they want,” he mutinously thinks), but eventually he’s caused enough chaos, and he delightedly heads out and plays house, gleefully cleaning up his already pristine treehouse. Like its predecessor Little Hoot (BCCB 3/08) and like Willems’ Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (BCCB 2/09), this mines effective humor from its inversion of the usual kidly obligation, and the details of dirtying and the amusing parental warnings (“I still see toys in their bin, mister,” says Dad firmly) enhance the comedy. Corace again offers line and watercolor illustrations that are trim and compact, with densely colored elements balanced against the generous white space of the backgrounds and outlining that is crisp and firm of purpose despite its slenderness. The art joins with the text in a few puns (“Little Oink dug playing with his friends” shows them digging for truffles), and occasional speech balloons add more piggy humor. While it’s probably asking for trouble to embark on a mess-instead-of-clean activity with actual youngsters, there’s both entertainment and food for thought in the “what if?” notion, and if it leaves kids wishing they were pigs, you can assure them that sometimes they are. [End Page 417] Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois