Here's another pig book -- I find that books on a particular subject or animal seem to come in bunches. I had a month's worth of mice books; now it's time for pigs (again). This particular book has wonderful black and white illustrations by Paul Kennedy and the text, which is for kids, but is somewhat of a memoir of a portion of the author's life, deals with the pets her family had when she and her siblings (all seven of them) were young. Victoria, the pig -- was a real-life pet. Here's the beginning of the story for you:
"My life has been full of questions which I have never been able to answer. I suppose most lives are full of these questions. Otherwise, lives would be too dull to be borne; and none of us could possibly live them.
One of my many unanswered questions which keep coming back to pester me is how my mother ever managed to endure all the pets we always had around the house when we were young. She had to endure eight of us children since, after all, we belonged to her, at least in part; but she really did not have to endure all the pets we had, all the creatures who messed up her neat rooms, ruined her rugs, knocked the babies over in an excess of affection, and made the air vibrant with their barks, whines, snifflings, bleatings, cawings, and grunts. Why and how she put up with them all is still a mystery to me. But she did."
If I had another half hour to sit, I'd end up reading the entire book (it's not long). It's funny, somewhat silly and gives a wonderful view of life as a child in the 1930's (approximately).
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