The Piggy in the Puddle

I gave this book to my granddaughters, ages three and one, last Fall. Recently I attended a birthday party for the now two-year old. After events quieted, the birthday girl asked me to read a book. I asked her to go pick one from her room and she came back with the Piggy in the Puddle. I read it twice to both girls and they still wanted to hear it again. Their mother says it has been their favorite ever since I gave it to them. I believe they love the lilting, rhythmic beat of the language in the book. And of course--the piggy is a bit naughty!

We checked this out from the library a few weeks ago, and it's a hit! I homeschool my six kids and they've asked for this one EVERY day. A first around here. They love it so much, they've assigned parts and we're planning to perform it as a play for our friends (if we can just get our three-year-old piggy to stay in the muddy middle...) This is a treat and I think it my be four-year-olds first memorized story.

"See the piggy,/See the puddle,/See the muddy little puddle./See the piggy in the middle/Of the muddy little puddle." She dawdles and diddles. She waddles in the merry middle. She dives and paddles, wiggles and giggles and though she's making the rest of her family very angry, she's having a blast. What's her daddy, mommy and brother to do? No matter how hard they try to convince her to get out of the muddy middle of the puddle and wash up with soap, she always says "Nope!" Well as the old saying goes...If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And that's just what each of them do..... Charlotte Pomerantz's piggy puddle classic, is as fresh and delightful today as it was when she wrote it over twenty-five years ago. Her joyful, rhyming text, full of silly verse, wordplay and tongue-twisting alliteration is complemented by James Marshall's very familiar, humorous and expressive illustrations and together this dynamic duo will have youngsters giggling and laughing out loud at the antics of this charming pig family. Perfect for early readers, The Piggy in the Puddle makes an even better read aloud story the entire family will enjoy. This is a book to treasure and share now and with each new generation to come. Make sure you get your copy, today!

I started reading Piggy in the Puddle when my children were little and my oldest is now an adult. Our copy mysteriously disapeared when it was taken to school for a 9th grader's project. Everyone in our family still recites it from memory 7 years later. One our daughter is now studying to be an elementary teacher and wants a copy of the book for student teaching. I am sure that this book was an important part of the reason that all of our children love to read to this day. It is an essential for the library of every family of young children.