School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-This piglet does not want a bath, and he can back up his argument with the wildest of fantasies and the most persuasive arguments. After all, "pirates...plunder, they pillage, they sail the seas in search of treasure, but they DON'T TAKE BATHS!" Neither do cowboys, Eskimos (it's too cold to bathe), knights (a knight's armor might rust), denizens of the desert (where there's no water), or astronauts (how could you take a bath in zero gravity?). As her child's imagination takes flight, Mama pig cleverly guides her youngster past his stubborn refusal and visions of a tub-free world as she questions with humor and a practical mind. Would he really want to be an Eskimo and eat whale blubber and walrus liver? Her gentle reasoning leads him to realize that imagination might make even a nightly chore such as bathing fun. Segal's fanciful cartoon pigs capture the expressions of delight, surprise, and horror as they fill the adventurer's roles in a succession of little pig's wild color-washed scenarios. Children and parents alike might recognize these voices heard at the end-of-day bath time in this first-purchase selection for all libraries.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A pirate's life seems just the ticket for a little pig who refuses to take his bath-"They plunder, they pillage, they sail the seas in search of treasure... but they DON'T TAKE BATHS!"-until his mother points out his propensity for seasickness. Trying to maintain the upper hand, the little pig runs through several other scenarios that might be even friendlier to the bath-adverse, only to have his mother gently deliver reality checks ("It's hard to poop and pee in zero gravity," she notes when he claims to be an astronaut). Can mother and son find common ground? Yes, but not before Segal (Far, Far Away) treats readers to some wonderfully imagined watercolor and pencil fantasies starring his stubborn, wide-eyed, and very pink hero. The flattened, geometric renderings and muted palette could have easily fallen flat. But Segal gives each spread a sly, silly magic, whether the piglet is having a sleepless night under the stars in the Old West, dodging a walrus and whale in the arctic circle, or trying to keep his cool in the middle of the desert. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
