Hugo the Hungry Pig
by Felicity
Fair Thompson
Wight
Diamond Press
In December we mentioned Felicity Fair Thompson's novel The Kid on Slapton Beach (see Chillies, Sherman tanks and super-moons.) Felicity has kindly sent us some of her other books so here we review something for a rather younger audience:
Something magic. The brush ran round the paper. This something looked like a pig. Ben gave it little ears and a curly tail. He coloured it orange and painted huge blue flowers on its back. He called his pig Hugo.
Felicity
Fair Thompson's first book for very young children - Hugo the Hungry Pig - is an agreeable tale. Adults can read it aloud and it seems
perfectly designed for reading and sharing together. An extra dimension of interactivity is
provided by an occasional page for colouring in, space for adding a 'magic picture'
of one's own and a dot-to-dot. All Wight Diamond Press's books are beautifully
produced and Hugo the Hungry Pig is
no exception.
The story is
uncomplicated enough but the author conveys, in very simple language, a reassuringly
warm and loving relationship between Ben and his mother. Mum is an artist who finds time to take Ben
to the library and on trips to the park where they can sketch together. If there's a moral to the story it's that artistic
activity, creativity and the imagination are to be valued. When Ben asks his
teacher to explain what magic is, she says, 'Well, it's sort of special. Something
you can't explain.' Hugo the Hungry Pig reminds us that the things that are special and
hard to explain are worthwhile.
