Alice's Birthday Pig (review)

Middle child Alice Singer has to put up with a lot, between her stuffy older brother, Oliver, who teases her mercilessly about her mispronunciation of the word "animal" (she can only say it as "aminal"), and obnoxious younger sister, Rosie, a three-year-old terror who's been kicked out of nearly every daycare in town. As Alice's eighth birthday approaches, she yearns for the sweet little three-legged pig she's fallen for on a class outing to a farm ("Whatever you got for your birthday, you didn't want it to be something Oliver had already. You wanted it to be something Oliver didn't have"). The gift, however, turns out to be not a pig nor, as she briefly suspects, a rabbit, but a guinea pig ("It's the nearest thing to a pig we could manage," explains her mother), which Alice falls for immediately and which she dubs "Aminal," thus gleefully annoying her proper brother. British author Kennemore paints a delightfully humorous and realistic family portrait here, with hints of Hilary McKay in her deft grasp of parent and sibling dynamics. Though this slim title comprises only fifty-four pages, the characters (including the parents) manage to be well developed, credible, and original, and the pace is snappy while still allowing introspective moments. Periodic black-and-white illustrations in line touched with gray wash further enhance the story's warmth and humor. Elementary-grade students, especially those with obstreperous sibs of their own, will undoubtedly relate to Alice's difficulties and desires, and adults looking for a great little readaloud will find this a perfect choice.