A Pig Is Big

PreS-K-Three-line rhymes explore the concept of big, bigger, and biggest. A consistent formula is followed: "What's big?/A pig is big./A pig is fat./A pig is bigger than my hat./What's bigger than a pig?," etc. Successively larger animals or objects are introduced until at last the universe is reached. The rhymes themselves are not particularly fresh or original and not up to Florian's usual standards. While the book's design, with its brief sentences, bold font, and simple concepts, would seem to appeal to preschoolers, some of the vocabulary, such as "dimensions," "excel," and "girth," would likely be beyond them. The consistent presence of gray or yellow skies in the competent watercolor-and-colored-pencil illustrations gives them a rather dreary air. Eric Carle's Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (Picture Book Studio, 1991) is a better choice for creative exploration of the concept of relative size.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In the first of Florian's (Mammalabilia) delicately painted, thoughtfully conceived watercolors, just a tip of an ear and the top of a hat hint at the answer to the question, "What's big?" At the turn of the page, readers discover that "a pig is big./ A pig is fat./ A pig is bigger than my hat." The world widens with each additional line, from the smiling, peachy pig to a city street and eventually to the wide blue universe. Florian's illustrations grow increasingly complex without overwhelming readers with detail. But while the initial jaunty verses are just right for preschoolers, both language and concepts become more sophisticated as the book progresses: "What's bigger than a city?... The earth's dimensions do excel./ In magnitude it is gigantic,/ From Katmandu to the Atlantic." Florian occasionally scrambles the sense of his verses for the sake of the rhyme ("A cow is bigger than a boar or sow./ It's bigger yesterday and now"). In general, though, the presentation is clever and humorous, well suited for elementary school children prepared to grasp the size of a universe as "the biggest thing of all./ Compared to it all things seem small." Ages 3-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

"An accessible, well-designed picture book."ALA Booklist