What This Story Needs Is a Munch and a Crunch

Starred review from March 2, 2015
In a story with echoes of Seuss and Willems, Virján (Nacho the Party Puppy) offers a very funny lesson about the unreliability of narrators. “What this story needs,” the unseen narrator declares, “is a pig.” Fair enough: the pig, pink and drawn in a naïve cartoon style, appears in a spotlight. When the narrator decrees that the pig don a red bouffant wig and climb in a boat in a moat “with a frog,/ a dog,/ and a goat on a log,” the pig goes along with the plan, though it’s clear dubiousness is setting in. But when the narrator keeps adding so many rhyming characters and objects that it imperils everyone on board the tiny pink ship, the pig finally speaks up. “Hey!” she calls out, “It’s getting crowded in here, don’t you think?/ Off of this boat before we all sink!” Taking control of the narration, the pig sends the other animals packing, but the final scene sets things right while tipping its hat to a classic line from Jaws. Ages 4–8. Agent: Edite Kroll, Edite Kroll Literary Agency.

March 1, 2016
Super silliness helps new readers practice. Virjan uses just 54 different words and five sentences that list familiar items, mostly food. With very short phrases on each page, beginning readers can turn the pages quickly. Despite its brevity, the story has a satisfying arc, beginning with the pig in a bright red wig preparing a picnic, then being joined by a squirrel and rabbit friend for games and lunch. Rain sends them inside but doesn't dampen this cheerful trio's spirits. The story is too brief for chapters, but each section starts with "What this story needs is"--again giving new readers a chunk of recognizable vocabulary. Most of the vocabulary consists of one-syllable standards, while clues in the clear, digitally colored illustrations make more challenging words ("sandwiches," "few," "breeze") easy to figure out. Best of all, the rhyming text bounces along without resorting to irritating singsong. The only quibble is the rather abrupt end: "What this story needs now is... / another place to eat." Adding the word "lunch" would have brought the story arc full circle while maintaining the rhythm of the text. Nitpicking aside, schools and libraries should plan on picnicking with this pig in a wig. (Early reader. 5-8)

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June 1, 2016

PreS-K-Fans of the protagonist of What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig will be glad she is back with another fun adventure with her friends Squirrel and Rabbit. Pig prepares a picnic with "some good friends[, ] crunching and munching by the trees," until a sudden storm has them making a mad dash for safety. "Whoosh Boom Plop Splash." Can Pig save the day? The digitally painted illustrations follow the text, making it easy for emerging readers to recognize new words. They will want to reread this journey over and over again. VERDICT Another hit in the series, this offering is sure to fly off the shelf.-Andrea Pavlik, Huntington Public Library, NY

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 2, 2015
In this bedtime-themed companion to What This Story Needs Is a Pig in a Wig, Virján’s scarlet-bouffanted pig is trying to go to sleep but, as in the previous book, she’s promptly joined by a slew of animals: “This bedtime also needs a bark, a quack, a honk, a coo,/ a ribbit, a meow, a neigh, and a moo,” the not-so-helpful narrator informs her. Virján’s bright illustrations, outlined in black, telegraph the pig’s annoyance and the other animals’ innocent cheerfulness as they pile into her bed (the horse, having planned ahead, even has a sleep mask). It’s good-natured rhyming fun that eventually has the pig finding a quiet night’s sleep somewhere unexpected. Ages 4–8. Agent: Edite Kroll, Edite Kroll Literary Agency.

November 7, 2016
Virján’s wig-wearing pig returns in her fourth picture book, a noisy outing that gets underway after the pig builds a bandstand and attracts an outfit of instrument-playing animals. As in the previous books, there’s raucousness to spare in Virján’s punchy rhymes (“This story also needs a twang, a tootle, a ping, a boom,/ a brup, a jingle, and a doom-doom-doom”), and children can easily match up the various instruments with the sounds they make, from the “tish” of an elephant’s cymbals to the “bwap” of a monkey’s trombone. The Pig on a Wig Band’s music gets temporarily disrupted when a mouse with a (tiny) tuba frightens an elephant, but it isn’t long before they are up, running, and attracting applause. It’s good, boisterous, musical fun. Ages 4–8. Agent: Edite Kroll, Edite Kroll Literary.

July 1, 2016
Noisy animals impose upon red-wig-sporting Pig's bedtime until she sends them away one by one (Hush). Pig unpacks for a picnic, then repacks when it rains (Munch). Each rhyming text follows a predictable pattern and incorporates repetition to support beginning readers. Digitally painted charcoal sketches add mild humor, but Virjan's first Pig in a Wig book contained more quirky, kid-pleasing details.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)