Pigs Love Potatoes (review)

This bouncy rhymed story mixes food, family, and counting as a potato snack expands into a feast. First "ONE pig wants potatoes," so Mamma starts to cook up a snack for her hungry youngster; then the pig numbers increase one by one as the little pig's brother, sister, father, neighbor, trio of friends, and Mamma herself swell the ranks of the potato-eaters (and Mamma sensibly throws one more potato in for good measure, making for a total of TEN potatoes). The rhyme is enjoyably silly, bubbling along in compact trimeter couplets, and the message of cooperation that underlies the potato pig-out (the kids and Papa peel the spuds, and everybody helps clear at the end) is tactfully incorporated. Christopher Denise's acrylic and charcoal illustrations are a modest little feast in their own right, and his personified piggies exude personality in a multitude of cunning little touches: the kids teeter on their trotters like wobbly preschoolers, little brother peeps owlishly from behind his huge round glasses, the potato-peeling turns into a playful peel-fight culminating in Papa's wearing the peels as a toupee. It's an enchanting picture of bucolic family cheer, but its essential humility is in keeping with the earthy food that starts it all. This might make for a pleasing picnic readaloud, or a useful distraction during food prep—so long as there's no pork on the menu.