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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Stayton Public Library | JF KING-SMITH | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic King-Smith, D. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | SHORT CHAPTER KING-SMITH | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | J AWARDS KING-SMITH 2004 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A quick-witted swineherd and a pig named Lollipop are royally rewarded after they reform a spoiled princess.
Author Notes
Dick King-Smith was born on March 27, 1922 in Bitten, Gloucestershire, England. Before becoming a full-time author, he was a farmer and a schoolteacher. He served in the Grenadier Guards during World War II and attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire.
He has written over 100 children's books including The Fox Busters, The Hodgeheg, and The Sheep Pig (aka Babe-The Gallant Pig), which was adapted as the 1995 film Babe. The 1995 TV miniseries The Queen's Nose was also based in one of his books. He was voted Children's Author of the Year at the 1991 British Book Awards. He died on January 4, 2011 at the age of 88.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Spoiled Princess Penelope's parents give her the pig she demands as a present for her eighth birthday. And, luckily enough for the child and her royal but ineffective parents, the endearing animal is accompanied by young Johnny Skinner, an amiable pig-keeper determined to teach the family something about manners and good sense. King-Smith's abundant affection for pigs and sure hand with dialogue keep the story buoyant, and the happy ending is never in doubt. Lollipop adapts to palace life quite quickly, thanks to Johnny's good training, and she even has a flap in the palace door so that she can get out as necessity dictates. Barton's pencil illustrations are charming and recall Ernest H. Shepard's various royal personages in A. A. Milne's Now We Are Six. The king's befuddled face and Penelope's stormy looks are delightful. Lollipop is shown with a sweetly confident expression as she goes about her pig activities, including happily depositing a bit of fertilizer on the queen's roses. The cover is inviting, and the book is handsomely designed with an open and readable typeface. An appealing read-aloud for younger children and a satisfying chapter book for those a little older.-Kathie Meizner, Montgomery County Public Libraries, Chevy Chase, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
King-Smith's sprightly confection dresses up a standard-issue plot with amusing, old-fashioned storytelling. Spoiled, willful and insufferably rude, young Princess Penelope is "a right pain in the neck," as the palace courtiers and servants agree. Her parents, especially her father, seem bent on indulging her every whim, however, and when Penelope insists on a pet pig for her eighth birthday ("I wanna pig, I wanna pig, I wanna pig!"), they reluctantly summon all the pig keepers in the land. To her parents' dismay, the princess chooses "the scruffiest, ugliest pig of the lot." Lollipop may not be comely, but "she's the brightest, cleverest pig you ever did see," as her keeper, Johnny Skinner, assures the royal family, an assertion that quickly proves correct. Before long, the boy and his charge have charmed not only the king and queen (who is delighted with Lollipop's skill at weeding and fertilizing the rose garden), but more importantly, the princess herself, who, in the process of helping to train Lollipop, learns a few lessons about manners and friendship. Beginning or reluctant readers will appreciate that the tale is served up in a dozen short chapters, which Barton's (the Baby Duck books) line illustrations mine for all their innocent charm. Ages 7-10. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) Lollipop hardly seems the right choice of pet for petulant, pampered Princess Penelope. Lollipop is the ""scruffiest, ugliest pig of the lot,"" but Penelope wants her. And what Penelope wants, Penelope gets. As it turns out, Lollipop is a pretty special pig: she can bat her white eyelashes, communicate in simple multi-pitched snorts, and learn to do just about anything her gentle young trainer, Johnny Skinner, wants her to. Johnny's ability to understand Princess Penelope (who insists that Lollipop live in the palace) and her hapless parents, Queen Ethelwynne and King Theophilus (who whole-heartedly oppose the idea) is at the heart of this tale. Not only does Johnny transform Penelope (""gone were the sulks and the shouting and the selfishness"") and win the queen over by training Lollipop to provide fertilizer for her award-winning roses, he and his beloved pig connect with all the characters inthis satisfying and enormously amusing story. The short chapters, with their pithy titles (""If the pig comes in, Mommy goes out""), and the book's open, lively design and profusion of engaging pencil illustrations (including several with crowd-pleasing piles of pig poop) add to the book's considerable appeal. Tell everyone, ""from the Lord High Chamberlain to the smallest scullery boy,"" to enjoy Penelope's transformation from spoiled brat to happy pig keeper. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The author of Babe, the Gallant Pig (1985) offers another winner with this tale of a bright pig and her canny young keeper "training" a spoiled princess. When Princess Penelope demands a pig for her eighth birthday, her over-indulgent father requires every pig keeper in the country to assemble with a likely porcine candidate. The princess settles on Lollipop, who turns out to be the sole possession of penniless orphan Johnny Skinner. As only Johnny can get Lollipop to sit, roll over, or poop outdoors, soon lad and pig are comfortably ensconced together in a royal stall-at least until the pig can be persuaded to respond to the Princess's commands. It's only the beginning of a meteoric rise for Johnny, and for Lollipop too, as the two conspire to teach the princess civilized manners, and end up great favorites of the entire royal family. Barton (Rattletrap Car, p. 504, etc.) captures Penelope's fuming, bratty character perfectly in a generous array of line drawings, and gives Lollipop an expression of affectionate amusement that will win over readers as effortlessly as it wins over the princess and her parents. Move over, Wilbur. (Fiction. 8-10)
Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-4. Princess Penelope is a royal terror who gets whatever she wants from her indulgent father. What she wants now is a pig for her birthday. After all the pigs in the kingdom are rounded up, she chooses lovely Lollipop, the only possession of poor Johnny Skinner, who's allowed to stay as the pig's keeper. At first it seems that his job will be teaching Lollipop to be a pig in a palace, but it soon becomes clear that his task is to train the princess to be a better human being. The story itself is predictable, and even the characters are pretty much stereotypes. What's fun is the way everyone interacts with Lollipop, a wise creature, who has only to look at people to change them for the better. Still, without Jill Barton's pencil drawings this might have floundered. Barton's talent for drawing both pigs and children elevates the story from commonplace to endearing. New readers can handle this, and because of the profusion of pictures, it will work equally well as a read-aloud. --Ilene Cooper