Review - If You Give a Pig a Party

If You Give a Pig a Party (If You Give...)
by Laura Joffe Numeroff
illustrated by Felicia Bond
Date: 2000
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: hardcover
Source: library

The little pig from If You Give a Pig a Pancake is back in this picture book in the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling If You Give... series!

If you give a pig a party, she's going to ask for some balloons. When you give her the balloons, she'll want to decorate the house. When she's finished, she'll put on her favorite dress.

Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond have created another charming story for this beloved character in the tradition of the bestselling If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Many years ago, I was introduced to this series in a multimedia class when the teacher showed us an interactive CD-ROM based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I thought the premise was adorable, and I've seen various other books in the series come out throughout the years. I never really bothered to read them, though, until yesterday... when I picked up If You Give a Pig a Party. Oh, my goodness! It's so cute.

The premise of these books is that if you give the character something, it'll lead to a request for something else... and that will lead to a request for something else, and so on. In this book, it starts out with throwing a pig a party. And then she wants balloons. And then she wants to decorate the house...

The illustrations are really cute, and highlight what's going on in the text while also showing things that aren't mentioned. For example, the pig gets her party dress from a doll. And when her animal friends play hide-and-seek, they're all cleverly hidden (even the moose, if you look closely).

I'm definitely going to be seeing if I can get some of the other books in the series. If they're anything like this one, I'll probably enjoy them, too.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 5/5

Overall: 4.33 out of 5