Parents in the Pigpen, Pigs in the Tub (Picture Puffins) - Softcover

Ehrlich, Amy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140562974 ISBN 13: 9780140562972

Publisher: Puffin, 1997

Synopsis

Tired of their usual routine, the farm animals insist on moving into the house, so the family decides to move into the barn, but eventually everyone tires of this new arrangement

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

It's a barnyard switcharoo when the animals get a glimpse of life on the other side of the pasture gate. Laments like "That sure looks better than the stuff they feed us" and "They got no flies in there neither" prompt a bevy of beasts to move into the house and demand cornflakes and snug beds. Ehrlich and Kellogg (who previously teamed up for the Leo, Zack and Emmie beginning readers series) invest the naively accommodating family with a goofy cheerfulness that provides much of the book's humor. Pa, Ma, Willy, Billy, Millie and the girl who narrates are blithely oblivious to the household havoc being wreaked by the animals (rendered in Kellogg's characteristically cluttered watercolors). Things finally get out of hand (Ma starts snoring during the Sunday sermon, the pigs flood the house) and the humans flee to the now-vacant barn, completing the swap. Eventually, of course, all creatures yearn for the comforts of home and the groups agree to trade back. A Thanksgiving dinner, filled with extra helpings of silliness, concludes the tale with a celebration of newfound mutual respect. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-A preposterous story about farm animals that switch domiciles with their human caretakers. These creatures not only talk and walk on two legs, but they're also greedy and pushy and want all of the advantages of civilization. And so, they move into the farmhouse. Ehrlich's text begs to be read aloud in an exaggerated country twang, while Kellogg's watercolor illustrations are rambling and full of humorous details. The human parents and their brood of goofy-looking children are good-natured pushovers, and they really don't mind living outside. The pictures depict ferociously funny expressions on some of the animals-a pig brushing his teeth, sending toothpaste foam everywhere; hysterically quacking ducks; indignant sheep. After the beasts have totally trashed the house-because they are animals, after all-they invite the family to come back. The farmers gape at the disaster before them, but somehow they take it all in stride. Squeaky clean fun that's bound to get children guffawing.
Vanessa Elder, School Library Journal
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0140562974
• ISBN 13: 9780140562972
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Kellogg Steven