Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai'i

Author: Gerald McDermott
Hardcover: 32 page(s)
Age Range: 4 - 8

Book Description:

Pig-boy is hairy. Pig-Boy is dirty. Pig-Boy is hungry! And when trouble comes, he knows just what to do. (Of course, escaping trouble comes easy to a trickster, who can shape-shift his way out of sticky situations just in time!) With the tropical colors and cadences of Hawaiian culture, internationally acclaimed author and illustrator Gerald McDermott's newest trickster tale bursts with humor and energy.

School Library Journal
McDermott continues his series of trickster tales with a simply told story about Kamapua'a, a popular figure in Hawaiian mythology. This little pig has a loving, nurturing human grandmother who wraps him in soft leaves and sings him to sleep with an empowering song about magic. ' ...if trouble comes,' she tells him, 'just slip away.' Pig-Boy's hunger is immense. He eats all the roots in his grandmother's taro patch, then eats the king's chickens, divides himself into a hundred little piglets, and slips away. He looks to the goddess Pele for help, and when she rejects him, he shape-shifts into a pig-nosed fish and evades her, as well. Captured by the king's men, he again uses his powerful magic to escape and return to his dear grandmother... A note about the Pig-Boy character is included. This fine introduction to a classic Hawaiian trickster should have a place in most collections.