The Viper (Dutton Easy Reader)

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 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 show more frequent as the year goes on? show less