Spoiled, willful and insufferably rude, young Princess Penelope is "a right pain in the neck," as the palace courtiers and servants agree. Her parents, especially her father, seem bent on indulging her every whim, however, and when Penelope insists on a pet pig for her eighth birthday ("I wanna pig, I wanna pig, I wanna pig!"), they reluctantly summon all the pig keepers in the land. Luckily enough for the child and her royal but ineffective parents, the endearing animal is accompanied by young Johnny Skinner, an amiable pig-keeper determined to teach the family something about manners and good sense. To her parents' dismay, the princess chooses "the scruffiest, ugliest pig of the lot." Lollipop may not be comely, but "she's the brightest, cleverest pig you ever did see," as her keeper, Johnny Skinner, assures the royal family, an assertion that quickly proves correct. Before long, the boy and his charge have charmed not only the king and queen (who is delighted with Lollipop's skill at weeding and fertilizing the rose garden), but more importantly, the princess herself, who, in the process of helping to train Lollipop, learns a few lessons about manners and friendship. Lollipop adapts to palace life quite quickly, thanks to Johnny's good training, and she even has a flap in the palace door so that she can get out as necessity dictates. Barton's pencil illustrations are charming and recall Ernest H. Shepard's various royal personages in A. A. Milne's Now We Are Six. The king's befuddled face and Penelope's stormy looks are delightful. Lollipop is shown with a sweetly confident expression as she goes about her pig activities, including happily depositing a bit of fertilizer on the queen's roses.

A spoiled-brat of a princess learns some important lessons about life and friendship when she gets a pig for her birthday, and the pig's previous owner decides that if he can train a pig, he can train her too.

A fun story about a princess who learns to be a better person after being given a pig for her birthday and making friends with the pigs trainer and previous owner. A funny story with short, easy to read chapters. I used the book as a daily read aloud with my students last month. My class loved the story and they were laughing as I read almost every page.

Princess Penelope is very spoiled and doesn' every think of other, that is until she get her new pet, a pig named Lady Lollipop. The princess learns many lesson from her new friend and pet. ( )

A very cute story about an unlikely palace pet. I enjoyed it even as an adult, but maybe I'm biased since I have a crippling love of all things pig-related. ( )