Lady Muck

by William Mayne, Illustrated by Illus by Jonathan Heale (Illustrator)

A pig named Boark finds a valuable cache of truffles! He and his wife revel in their good fortune and head to town to buy a grand coach for Sowk to ride in. It's a long walk, and the mouthwatering truffles smell so good in Sowk's basket. First one truffle and then another disappears into Sowk's mouth. "They didn't travelly too goody," she tells Boark. He sells the one remaining truffle to buy a wheelbarrow in which to push his Lady Muck home. Celebrated author William Mayne has created a wonderful tale of two greedy pigs. Lady Muck is a splendid comic romp graced by Jonathan Heale's rich woodcuts.

Genres: Animals, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1997

About the author

William Mayne was a British writer of children's fiction. Born in Hull, he was educated at the choir school attached to Canterbury Cathedral and his memories of that time contributed to his early books. He lived most of his life in North Yorkshire.

He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.

A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.

William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely wonderful book in which Mayne's piggytalk and narrative alongside Heale's wonderful woodcuts makes for a peerless play with word and image. After unearthing some rich turffles, Boark and his large wife, Sowk set off to market to make their money. On the way, Sowk falls to temptation and little by little nibbles away at their rich findings. The tale is funny in itself but it is the read-aloud nature of the text and Wayne's invented piggy language which I love so much. Not one for all readers, sadly, but a real mucky masterpiece nonetheless.

[Kathryn Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lady Muck by William Mayne is about two pigs who are husband and wife. Their names are Boark and Sowk. These pigs have strong noses which allow them to sniff out and find truffles in the forest where they live. Boark asks Sowk what would make her happy and she says that she would like some truffles. Boark goes looking and finds one. He tries to keep it for himself but Sowk notices first. They decide to find enough truffles to fill a basket and sell them in the market. The journey to the market is humorous as both husband and wife secretly sneak eating the truffles on the way without telling each other. They make excuses for each one that they eat. When they reach the market, there are only two truffles left which Sowk eats. Sowk is full and Boark uses a wheelbarrow to roll her back. The wording in this book is really interesting and whimsical. I tried reading it out loud to a friend, but it was too bizarre. Most of the words are made up variations of other words. It all rolls off the tongue. This would be a good book to use to teach onomatopoeia.

[Finny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mommy says: Tale of two truffle hunting/eating pigs written in a sort of pidgin mixed with the babytalk you use to talk to your pets. That pidgin makes it hard to follow/read aloud at times.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

1997 Kurt Maschler Award

[Melanie]

Could also be stories-funny

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful illustation, very creative language. Lots of fun.

[Nick Swarbrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

And, to some extent, caught. The language and Jonathan Heale's illustrations make for a wonderful example of language play and evocation of a rural past. On the face of it, a wonderful book.
However, I recall how Helen Macdonald lays bare the anguish in T H White's depiction of the aged peregrine with the young Wart (magically transformed into a hawk) when the ageing Cully feverishly begs not to be allowed to attack the boy. Immensely problematic as this is, I catch a hint of it as Sowk, desperate for a truffle, speaks to "the truffle baby" in a not dissimilar way of depicting temptation not avoided: ' "Let me just snuffly you," she whisper-whispery to him, as has him up her snouty and a kissing him before he can say helpy.' Problematic doesn't come into it, if we know William Mayne's biography,.
This is a wonderful children's book about generosity and temptation and the gloriously desire-laden life of the two main piggy characters. But.