tabandvelcro's review
4.0
the pig art in this is everything to me?? I could look at these pigs for hours.
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
This book feels like it was written in code. Parallels to being an immigrant as well as being bi-racial both seemed pretty clear. And perhaps by making everyone pigs, it would be easier to talk about the general situation of being different from the specific of how they are different. It is easy for me to read the lunch thing as including kimchi, but that could say more about me.
This was not bad. It felt true. But the being pigs really didn't work for me much. The whole book felt just a little too indirect. And the feelings of being singled-out, uncomfortable, just a little too easy to get past.
Still good. 3.5 of 5.
This was not bad. It felt true. But the being pigs really didn't work for me much. The whole book felt just a little too indirect. And the feelings of being singled-out, uncomfortable, just a little too easy to get past.
Still good. 3.5 of 5.
left_unsupervised's review
3.0
You see the title and have to wonder what a normal pig is because what is normal to you may not be normal to me & vice versa. School can be difficult in general, but sometimes your peers can be so very mean. Give this story a chance.
readingthroughtheages's review
5.0
I am so grateful that Rebecca from Harper Collins made sure I get a copy of this book at ALA. Chad Everett talked about the word diverse and when we use it, what are we centering as the norm? That was a huge a-ha for me, but it's hard to tell really young readers what that means. This book will help explain that concept to them.
abigailbat's review
Pip has always felt like a normal pig, until a new kid at school starts rudely pointing out her differences. This book deals with feeling different and handling bullies, a message that clearly translates from Pip's pig family and community to readers' people families and communities.
librarian_tori's review
4.0
K-Fai Steele does a wonderful job of portraying differences and bullying in this story. Pip the pig - the only spotted one on the cover - is being bullied by a new kid, in large part because her lunches are very different. Pip's parents take the family into the city, where Pip interacts with all sorts of other people - whoops, pigs - who look and speak different from one another but play and enjoy the museum the same. When Pip returns to her homogenous community, she is more bold and brave in the face of bullying - and her special, different lunches even win over hearts. I wasn't a huge fan of the illustration style, but the author conveys the message deftly and appropriately for the target age group.
cbs5678's review
5.0
Loved the illustrations. Great for pre-K kids who live slightly different lives from their peers and for all to realize different doesn’t equal wrong.
jessalynn_librarian's review
4.0
August 2019 - between this one and [b:Noodlephant|40510934|Noodlephant|Jacob Kramer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541397698l/40510934._SX50_.jpg|62857650], I'm definitely looking out for Steele's future books! This one is a bit more cartoony in style, which again balances out the themes of what it means to be different, and what it means to live in a place where everyone else looks the same. It's a quick read, but Ben chose it again and again - he never explicitly made any comments identifying with Pip or feeling different than his classmates, but I can't help but wonder if it was just something he couldn't put into words yet.