Clever Lollipop

by Dick King-Smith, Jill Barton

Princess Penelope needs school lessons, but her governess refuses to teach her with palace pig, Lady Lollipop, present. The king and queen don't know what to do, until mystical, magical Collie Cob the Conjuror steps in. Penelope and Lollipop love Collie's inventive lessons - they see that there are ways of learning all around them in life! As a grand finale, Collie even works out exactly when Lollipop will have her litter of little piglets as a surprise for Penelope's birthday!

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Chapter Books, Animals, Fantasy

Paperback

First published July 14, 2003

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how charming children would find this if they hadn't read Lady Lollipop first. There is a recap, and some of the best bits of gentle humor/ satire are recycled, but I think the first book is the stronger, and this is for readers like me who just can't get enough of King-Smith.

Upon reread I notice a few things I could quibble about. For example, too much reliance on 'potions' instead of common sense; it took them all quite some time to learn how to manage the king's health. And the characters are stock, pretty thin.

Still, it's good enough to be worthy of being the story (duology) that might get young kids more interested in reading, and with the humor, heart, and little dramas, it might just be.

(Impulse grab at the library; have not reread the first.)

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Princess Penelope, the nominal owner of the clever piglet Lollipop,
was about to start learning about tutors. Soon, the King and Empress who issued the recruitment of tutors, but the condition that I want to study with Lollipop and its real
owner Jonny is the neck and the selection is difficult.
There are plenty of cute illustrations, and the content is easy to understand with its help.
You can see this book alone, but I recommend that you read Lady Lollipop first if you can.

[Toby Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pig returns, nope, still not that pig, in the sequel to Lady Lollipop this is about this pig and this is book seven I have read by DKS. This is another animal story of course and it is also quite entertaining - another solid DKS book!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not often a book becomes a favorite from the very beginning for me. I really enjoyed the cast of characters and story.

[Angela Hasrami · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books! Who needs a pea when you've got a pig with an extreme IQ?

[Lily Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever lollipop indeed. So so clever. My favourite character was princess penelope. I would read it again if I could.

[Morrigan Irwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very quick read. I found it very entertaining through the problems that they encounter. I thoroughly enjoyed how the book ended on such a happy note.

[Sammanitaadhikari · Rating 5 out of 5]

ummm hav not read it yet?

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The children really enjoyed this tale of a pig, a swineherd and a princess. Lighthearted, funny, touching - a good read aloud.

[Leah Agirlandaboy]

Cute.

[PrincessLhala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhh this is a heart warming story.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a wonderful sequel to Lady Lollipop. Very sweet, with a great balance of adventures, surprises and humor.

[Tim O'neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice little account of what happened after Lady Lollipop from the author of Babe and The Fox Busters, but alas not quite belonging in the same class as any of those. TFB is fun because it’s King-Smith’s first kids’ book and it’s gruesome and shockingly violent, and Babe and LL are both pleasantly straightforward fables—tho Babe the film has much more goïng on. And the original Lady Lollipop specifically had a lot of stylized fairy-tale language that brought you into the world of the tale that I felt was missing here. This volume is also missing the across-the-board character growth, altho it dœs do that Marvel-movie thing where the other characters point out that the King isn’t changing, so that makes it okay?

It’s not bad, tho, and my affection for LL was great enough that it was pleasant to hear (my 11yo son read this to me, tho I voiced the grown-up characters) what happened next. There just wasn’t really a story here, almost more like a book of slightly interconnected short stories in that same milieu.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the most recent kids' book club book. It picks up where Lady Lollipop left off (kids' book club book a couple months ago). It was a cute book and I liked the magician guy. Some parts in it seemed kind of random, like the thing with the King losing a lot of weight and then losing his appetite completely, but Megan liked the book and didn't seem to think anything was weird. I thought we were going to have to have the birds and bees talk after reading it though. Megan kept asking me why Lollipop's husband pig wasn't with her. I was relieved she didn't ask any more than that.

[Ho Ming Yung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the next book after Lady Lollypop. It is about when the princess and the pig grows up and they become family. They make friends with different people. I especially like the part when they played in the garden together. My favourite character was Lollypop because she was very friendly to different people. I recommend this book to children 8+

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like this one as much as the first one in the series, but that might be because it was a little over my 4-year-old's head. However, she was still more than excited to read it and could not wait to find out what would happen at the end!

[Linnae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another pig story by King-Smith. A spoiled princess, a magical teacher, and one clever pig make for a sweet little story.

Another read-aloud. This one was charming in its own right, but we liked Babe better.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is titled for Lady Lollipop, that wonderful pig, but I loved it most for the story of mentorship and friendship between the humans in the story. I love the way that Mr. King-Smith's mind works!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel to LADY LOLLIPOP.

[MARGOT J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great follow-up story! Dick King-Smith is one of my favorite authors!

[Alissa Faust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sequel to Lady Lollipop. Not as interesting of a story as before especially since it included setting two pigs up. Still a cute, easy to understand story.

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughters of 6 and 8 enjoyed this book very much as our read aloud story over the past week.