Lisa Thiesing

Peggy the pig goes about her life, until she starts getting mysterious phone calls from the Viper, who promises he'll come to her house in one year.

A mystery of modest proportions for small audiences, Lisa Thiesing's easy reader is a great transition book between picture books and longer, all-text stories or graphic novels. The illustrations add depth to Peggy's character, and the surprise ending is sure to please (or just make the kids groan). We get glimpses of Peggy in the text, but show more otherwise she's pretty flat as characters go (but not as pigs go). Thiesing builds the suspense well, keeping the plot moving, but one glaring question goes unanswered: why doesn't Peggy ask anything back to the Viper, whose calls get more and more frequent as the year goes on? show less

This book was a cute rhythm-styled book about a little pig named Sally that gets a lot of "boo-boo's" in a day and puts band-aids on all her boo-boo's. It's a cute way for kids learning to read to see how someone can make a bad situation where they may get hurt, a little better. For example, when Sally is happy that she finds a rose, she smells it and pricks her nose. But once she puts a band-aid on it, she feels better. After all her boo-boo's are covered with band-aids, she wakes up the show more next morning and all her boo-boo's are gone. It is a cute fictional book for kids to get a laugh out of while learning to read basic words and sentences. show less

Animals in families