The Adventurous Pigs: Ben Runs for Mayor

It has been an entire year in their new land called Freedom Town, Hogs Ville, USA. The piglets are now full-grown hogs with wives and piglets of their own, Elmer, Dinky, and Ben. Elmer is now an airline pilot, his love for flying paying off. He takes locals for rides during the week and for special occasions, like birthday parties and family reunions. Elmer often takes his wife and piglets to the airstrip on weekends for flying lessons. Elmer now owns his own flying machine, called the Jasper. Dinky now runs the neighborhood diner. He has specialties: baked apple rind pie, seed cream custard, and cob stew.

Dr. Denise Johnson is an associate professor of reading education at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, where she was recently presented with the University Professor of Teaching Excellence award. She received her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Reading from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. She has worked as an elementary classroom teacher, a middle school reading specialist, and a Reading Recovery teacher, and now teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in reading and language arts methods and children's literature. For the last 15 years, Dr. Johnson has conducted research on literacy, children's literature, and the integration of technology into pre-service and in-service education courses and within elementary classrooms. She has published in a variety of journals, such as The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Literacy Teaching and Learning. Active in several professional organizations including the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Children's Literature Association, the author presents regularly at conferences around the country, and continues to work with teachers and children to advance the use of children's literature in the classroom.