The Old Woman and Her Pig

by Paul Galdone

An old woman finally succeeds in bringing home her stubborn pig

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1960

About the author

Paul Galdone (1907 - November 7, 1986) was a children's literature author and illustrator. He was born in Budapest and he emigrated to the United States in 1921. He studied art at the Art Student's League and New York School for Industrial Design. He served for the US Army during world War II.

He illustrated nearly all of Eve Titus' books including the Basil of Baker Street series which was translated to the screen in the animated Disney film, The Great Mouse Detective.

Galdone and Titus were nominated for Caldecott Medals for Anatole (1957) and Anatole and the Cat (1958). The titles were later named Caldecott Honor books in 1971.

He died of a heart attack in Nyack, New York. He was posthumously awarded the 1996 Kerlan Award for his contribution to children's literature. His retellings of classic tales like "The Little Red Hen" or "Three Billy Goats Gruff" have become staples.

Reviews

[Prabhat sharma]

Old Woman and Her Pig by Paul Galdone- Hindi language translation by Arvind Gupta- Children’s illustrated colour picture book- The book narrates the story of an old woman and her pig. The lady finds a coin on the entrance of a mouse hole. She picks up the coin, goes to market and purchases a pig for her sty. While the two are returning home from the market, they come across a log which they have to jump in order to cross. The pig refuses to jump above the log. The old lady requests the dog, stick, fire, cow, rat to help her but all refuse. However, when she requests the cat to help, the cat demands a bowl for milk from her. The cat drinks the milk and runs after the rat. Thus, a chain reaction starts. Ultimately, the dog barks on the pig. The pig jumps over the log and the old woman reaches her home. Colured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[Terry Cross]

La Vieille Femme et son Cochon is a book in French I found in the Library. By following the illustrations and putting to use what little I know of French and some knowledge of Spanish I believe I followed the story well.
An old woman tries to get her stubborn pig to come into the house but he refuses to move. She goes to ask a dog to help move the pig, but he refuses. She goes through a laundry list of characters until she comes to a cat who agrees to help if the old woman gets him a saucer of milk. Once the cat gets its milk, the cat chases the mouse who refused to help, mouse then chews the rope, then the rope gets after the butcher, then the butcher chases the bull... you get the picture.
The book lays out the enunciations for the French words and provides lessons for people learning French. This makes for a good entertaining read for anyone just learning French, but in English it would probably be good for 2nd to 4th grades.

[Snail]

I adore Paul Galdone’s drawings. I didn’t know this fable, though, so I was a bit off-put by the old woman trying to murder everyone. I supposed once you’re expecting that story, it’s easier to enjoy Galdone’s lovely illustrations without thinking too hard about anything else.

[Sarah Sammis]

I'm not a fan of this building type of story. It gets tedious fast. The old lady here has a bad attitude.

[Saffron Moon]

This rating is for the edition adapted and illustrated by Paul Galdone.

[Partridge Public]

Galdone, Paul K-1st