School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-After reviewing the lives of his famous explorer forepigs, Pigsticks evaluates his life and decides that he, too, must go on a daring expedition. But first, he needs an assistant. After a long search, he finds a small, friendly hamster named Harold, who adores cake. With the promise of baked goods at the end of their journey, Pigsticks and Harold encounter jungle snakes, ravenous crocodiles, deep ravines, and carnivorous mountain goats on their way to the end of the Earth. Will they ever make it to their destination, and if so, will it be what they expected? Milway develops his characters into quite lovable friends that children will adore. Pigsticks is certainly in charge, but it is clear that without his assistant, his goal will never be realized. Ample illustrations and a large font make this is a solid chapter book addition for new and/or struggling readers.-Katy Charles, Virgil Elementary School, Cortland, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Milway (the Mousehunter trilogy) steps into early reader territory with a book starring a pair of classic archetypes: the intrepid explorer and the put-upon assistant. In this case, the explorer is Pigsticks, a swoopy ovoid pig who resolves to travel to the Ends of the Earth like his ancestor Colonel Pigslet. "But unlike Colonel Pigslet," thinks Pigsticks, "I'll make it back alive!" He quickly conscripts a hamster named Harold into service (several promises of cake are involved), and the latter two-thirds of the book track their bumbling progress through jungle, desert, and mountain. Much like Harold with the team's enormous gear pack, Milway's ink illustrations (seen in b&w by PW) do some serious heavy lifting with regard to the storytelling; he uses sequential panels to show the duo's progress, and the art often reveals the truth behind the deadpan text. "Harold was definitely going deeper into the jungle than any hamster had gone before," he writes as Harold sinks into a pit of quicksand. An entertaining kickoff to a series of adventures, whether Harold likes it or not. Ages 5-9. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.