The Great Pig Escape

by Eileen Christelow

Bert and Ethel have a long truck drive to market, and when they arrive, the pigs they intended to sell have mysteriously disappeared.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Eileen Christelow is an acclaimed American author and illustrator of children’s books, best known for her beloved Five Little Monkeys series. Beginning with Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, a playful retelling of the classic nursery rhyme, the series has captivated generations of young readers with its humor and rhythmic storytelling. Over the course of her career, Christelow has published more than 30 books, encompassing both fiction and nonfiction, and many inspired by her surroundings in Vermont, her family life, and even her dog, Emma.
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1943, Christelow spent her formative years in Connecticut and briefly in Japan, where she attended the American School in Tokyo. She studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, a discipline that would influence her later work in design and illustration. After working for several years as a freelance photographer, she turned her focus to writing and illustrating picture books while raising her daughter in California. Her earliest works, Henry and the Red Stripes and Mr. Murphy’s Marvelous Invention, were published by Clarion Books in the early 1980s.
Christelow’s books often celebrate storytelling, curiosity, and mischief, appealing to children and educators alike. Titles like What Do Authors Do?, What Do Illustrators Do?, and Vote! provide engaging nonfiction content for young readers, while others such as Letters From a Desperate Dog and The Great Pig Escape draw on humorous real-life scenarios. Her works have received numerous accolades and several Five Little Monkeys titles have been translated into Spanish and Chinese.
She continues to live and work in East Dummerston, Vermont, in a home designed by her husband, where she draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the state. Christelow remains a cherished voice in children’s literature, with a lasting legacy of entertaining and educating young readers.

Reviews

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this story was kind of far fetched...but children seem to love it!

[Reade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about two farmers who grow vegetables in their garden. One day they decide to get pigs and start raising them. At first the pigs are small and harmless. One of the farmers starts talking about selling them to the market to get meat. The wife of the farmer keeps warning him that the pigs can hear him and are planning something. When the two farmers are loading the pigs in to their truck, they cannot find their latch so they use a rope to tie the doors shut. They make a couple stops along the way to the pig market. When they get to the market they realize that the pigs had escaped. They look everywhere for the pigs but they cannot find them. The pigs had escaped forever.
3 book topic ideas
1.) Teachers could use this book to talk about pigs and what pigs are used for.
2.) This book could also be used to talk about farms and what people do on farms. Also if any students know someone who works on a farm.
3.) Teachers could also have student look through the book and count the amount of pigs that the farmers start with and how many pigs escape at each stop.

[Floyd Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book with cute illustrations

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bert, just listen to Ethel from the start, and you will not come to so much grief and fruitless pursuit of Absented Porcine Investment.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun children’s book!!!!!

[Jessica Starzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was hilarious! I can’t believe that the pigs were clever enough to get away but nice enough to return borrowed items. I thought the illustrations were realistic to a late 1990 time period. I can just imagine little kids giggling at the disguised pigs!

Genre: modern fantasy
Grades: PreK - 3

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two small vegetable farmers, Bert and Ethel, decide to raise six piglets to sell at market. As they watch the pigs grow Bert comments on the bacon they'll make. Ethel tries to get him to be more careful about what he says around the pigs. Sure enough, one day, Bert makes a comment about it being time to sell the pigs and the pigs understood him. Ethel is convinced that the pigs will plan something that night. And she's right. The next morning, as Bert, Ethel and their neighbors try to load the pigs onto the truck, one pig steals the bolt that would lock the truck gates closed. So the gate is tied closed with rope. Rope is no problem for the pigs; they just chew right through it.

When Bert and Ethel arrive at the auction yard, they discover that all of the pigs have escaped! They immediately begin to hunt for them. No one in the town has seen any pigs but lots of clothes are missing from store displays, scarecrows and washing lines!

The townspeople eventually get their clothes back and Bert and Ethel eventually figure out what happened to their pigs. From then on, they vow to stick with vegetables!

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

When two vegetable farmers decide to buy and raise six piglets, they get a crash course in their animals' intelligence when the pigs overhear the plans to send them "to market"--and decide to disguise themselves as humans and hitchhike to Florida!

Young readers will have a ball finding the disguised pigs throughout the text, as the entire human population of the town scratch their heads and try to figure out where those pigs have gone. By the end of the story, the farmer decides he's had it with hogs and goes back to raising turnips!

The Great Pig Escape is not only a rollicking good tale, it also gently introduces the idea that all animals want to live--including those raised on more traditional family farms. Recommended.

[Scott Stoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book started very slow, but it really picked up on the day that the pigs were due to go to market I think that this is a good book to read to kids but I do not think that it would be good if they read it themselves. I think that it would be very easy for them to miss the pigs escaping and the great artwork that goes along with it

[Shayla Kellum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I raed this very funny book to my little bro and he laughed because pigs are soooooo great.
"The great pig escape" is a great book and me and my brother recamend it to anyone especaily people that like chickens so they can lighten up a bit, MICHAEL! lol

[James Vickery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this story was very entertaining. I loved that the pigs got to escape. Thist story would be very entertaining for children. The story has a lot of moments in it where the children could look at the photos and know something that the characters do not know.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son cannot get enough of this silly book about pigs who outsmart their owners and escape being sold at the market by stealing clothes, dressing up like people, and taking a bus to Florida. He loves searching through the illustrations and trying to find all of the pigs in disguise.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids love trying to spot the undercover pigs. Great for teaching the importance of observation. Warning: may have to explain how pigs become meat - eek!

[Marie]

The Great Pig Escape by Eileen Christelow (1994)

[Cws]

JEAR3-Chr

[Bri Zabriskie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny. Somewhat clever.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our copy of this book is trashed, but I liked it! We might have to get a new copy! I think it would be really hard to raise animals and then eat them....

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute.
Read with Naomi and Julia.