Elizabeth Morrow (1) (1873–1955)

The book The Painted Pig does an excellent job at showing children another culture in the children going to the market place and what the toys are made of, but that is the only good thing I found about this book. The story is very hard to follow and tends to be extremely disconnected at certain points. One example of this is when Pedro decides to make the toy himself, and then suddenly he stops trying and caring. The ending of this story is also very abrupt I felt. We never learn whether Pedro takes care of his pig or if he ends up showing the toymaker that he can make toys as well. Also, I feel that although this book may teach a lesson on patience it also teaches many incorrect lessons like how the children couldn’t share and the sister would brag about her pig. It also shows the boy just giving up on his own creation to the point where instead of trying again the children bury the pig in the backyard. I feel like this shows children that if they do not succeed at first they should just stop trying and have somebody else do it for them. This looked like a good book but unfortunately I ended up disappointed.… (more)

I liked reading The Painted Pig, A Mexican Picture book because of the unique illustrations and symbolism. The yellow pig in the book resembles a popular Mexican toy well liked by Pita and her younger brother Pedro. Pedro wanted to play with Pita’s unique and decorative yellow pig, but she was nervous he’d break it. The siblings then began the adventure to find the same yellow pig for Pedro to have one of his own. The illustrations provide great graphics showing emotion and detail. I like how each picture is provided with a one-line sentence explaining what is happening in the picture. One picture shows Pita with her mouth open as she is talking to her yellow pig. The caption below states, “Pita explained where they were going.” The only thing that may distract kids when reading is the long paragraphs on each page. There are many words on each page; however, next to each page provides a graphic.… (more)

Summary:
This is the story of Pita and Pedro, who are two young siblings. Pita has a beautiful piggy bank that has a blue rose for the tail. Pedro thinks that Pita's pig is better than any toy he has and he begs Pita to play with it. Pita constantly refuses to let him play with her pretty pig because she doesn't want it to get broken. They go into town to the market to try to get the toy maker to make Pedro his own but week after week and promise after promise, he never brings one. Pedro grew discouraged and decided to make his own with mud. Pita waited all day for the finished product and it turned out to look nothing like a pig. The next week they went back to the market and to their surprise the toy maker had Pedro a pig of his own. Pedro was very happy about getting his very own pig.

Personal Reaction:
I found it easy to relate to this book because I know what it is like to want something and have to wait and work for it.

Extension Ideas:
1. I think this would be a great book to introduce when talking about multicultures and incorperating how we are all different.
2. This would be a good book to read when teaching about being patient.… (more)

A Mexican brother and sister named Pita and Pedro are playing with toys. Pedro asked hid sister if he can play with her yellow pig. Pita doesn't want him to play with it because he might break it. Pita tells Pedro that they will go to the market and buy him one from the toy maker. Pedro asked the toy maker to make a pig exactly like Pita's. Pita and Pedro keep going back to the market and every time the toy maker tries to give Pedro a different toy. But Pedro really wants a pig like Pita's so he tries to make his own pig out of clay. Pedro's pig comes out looking like an elephant. One day they are out playing with toys. The toy maker finally comes to them with a yellow pig that looks a little different from Pita's. The toy maker said it would be crazy to make the exact same pig. Pedro loves his new pig.

This book was very colorful. It was interesting to learn about the pig toys in that culture.

The class could make their own pigs. And discuss the differences in toys and cultures.… (more)