All Pigs Are Beautiful

Dick King-Smith has also written a children's book about the characteristics and habits of pigs called All Pigs Are Beautiful (1993). It is illustrated by Anita Jeram and is available in the U.S. from Candlewick Press. As the frontispiece notes, "There are little pigs and big pigs, pigs with long snouts and pigs with short snouts, pigs with ears that stick up and pigs with ears that flop down. But all pigs are beautiful." Several pages of the book, ideal for ages three and up, by the way, are dedicated to the story of King-Smith's beloved pig Monty. In a tacit critique of industrial agriculture, King-Smith observes that "the luckiest pigs, like Monty, live outside."

I'll be at a meeting starting tomorrow in New Orleans. I'm looking forward to getting back to a place I used to live, albeit briefly. I'll be posting again next week about my trip to Cochon and the opening of my friend David Rae Morris' exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. So see you next week. Laissez les bon temps roulez!