by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 15, 2010

"In Sooey , South Dakota ,
In a sloppy, stuffy sty,
There's an itchy ol' straw bed
where the Bed Hogs pile high."

In fact, there's an actual pile of pigs in the book's illustration - a mother and father pig, two sisters named Rose and Flo, and "big, blue-ribbon Ed." But out from underneath the stack peeks the face of "Little Runt," who's complaining that he's being squished! Needless to say, that's going to make it hard to get to sleep - and he also has other problems.

"Rose, the reigning beauty queen,
Is tender, pink and sweet.
But more than just a pretty face -
Rose has some stinky feet!"

Illustrator Howard Fine actually draws Rose wearing a blue beauty-queen sash - labeled "Miss USDA" - and she's wearing a golden tiara, smiling contentedly as she closes her thick eyelashes. Fine had already illustrated several books about pigs, according to the book's jacket, including "A Piggie Christmas" and "Piggie Pie!" But it looks like in this book he's enjoying a chance to draw realistic but humanized pigs, and his clear, bright illustrations fill up each page.

Little Runt gives a shove to the beauty-queen pig, and there's now more room for him to sleep in the pile of pigs. Unfortunately, his sister Flo drools in her sleep - and poor Little Runt winces "Eww!" as it dribbles onto his snout.  Of course, there's another shove coming up, and soon there's more room in the bed. Author Kelly DiPucchio again counts down the remaining pigs - and at this point, there's four left in the pile.

It's DiPucchio's first children's picture book, but growing up, she'd lived on a small farm where her family raised horses, chickens, rabbits, and goats (according to the book's jacket). Still, I'd guess that her rhyming story owes more inspiration to a folk song I heard long ago at summer camp. ("So they all rolled over, and one fell out. There were three in the bed, and the little pig said Roll over…")

 Big blue-ribbon Ed gets tickled out of the bed, and unfortunately, the mother pig dances in her sleep. Soon she's danced her way off the mattress, and Little Runt fills the papa pig's snout with pepper. The illustrations make the whole family seem like great comic caricatures, but the end of the book has a nice sentimental twist. Little Runt finally gets the whole straw bed to himself, but seems lost in the vast spread of hay, feeling cold and alone. And like many good children's stories, it ends right where it began.

Runt hunkered down beneath the straw,
Alone there in the stack.
He closed his eyes and hollered loud,
"Hey, you guys… come back!"

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