Name: Pigsty (bkshelf)
ISBN: 9780439598439

Mark Teague

Pigsty (bkshelf)

Sarah Sammis

My local coffee shop has a bookshelf. It's a place where regulars drop off books they've read or pick up books to take home and read. One day while I was enjoying my morning bear claw I saw a copy of Pigsty by Mark Teague. Since children's books are rare on the bookshelf and kids come in frequently, I read the book and left it on the shelf.

Wendell Flutz's room is a mess. It's gotten so bad that his mother has refused to clean it. That's fine with Wendell; he'd rather just leave things as they are. Unfortunately as it gets too messy it gets mistaken for a pigsty and pigs move into his room!

I normally adore Mark Teague's books. He has a lovely retro, 1940s style of illustration. This one though didn't quite work for me. The moral seems too forced and Teague's paintings just can't improve this heavy handed story.