Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > Pig the Fibber review
He's Back!
But this time Pig - the world's greediest Pug - is telling great, big lies.
Won't he ever learn?!
The laugh-out-loud sequel to the best-selling PIG the PUG.
Product reviews...
We had won a copy of Pig the Winner earlier this year and as both girls really enjoy it I got rather excited when I saw this at our local library, as I reached for it my youngest got it first and said 'hey thats Pug the naughty dog who cheats can we get it please?' How could I say no as I was also wanting to read. The cover has his cute face and once again Pug is crossed out and this time replaced with the words 'Fibber'.
I love books that rhyme and find they give so much more to a story then if it was written normally. It flows beautifully and explains how he was always naughty and always lied and blammed the other dog Trevor, until an accident occurs and he learns from his untruthful ways. After reading it the first time my daughter and I had a discussion about lying and she automatically tried to play innocent and instead said that her elder sister always lies and she never does (a lie in itself). The truth is her seven year old sister is a terrible liar and you can always see right through her where as little Miss four is a born manipulator and is really quite good at it. We discussed why telling fibs are bad and that the repercussions could be life threatening so she has promised to not lie again (another big porkie).
When her elder sister got home she quickly sat down to read it to her younger sister and afterwards Miss four gave her a talking to about why you should never tell fibs and how she was only going to tell the truth from now on. We shall see. A great book in my eyes if it works out. Love the picture and the story and it has a great message about lying not being very good. Worth reading if anyone has kids who like to tell porkies.
"Pig The (Pug) Fibber" is a book for every child who has a brother or sister or cousin or friend who never admits to wrong-doing and always blames someone else. Who has never wished that the accuser would get punished and taught a lesson he or she would never forget? There is a certain satisfaction when this happens!
Pig is an especially obnoxious creature who blames everything on the family's other pet, the long-suffering Trevor. Everything that is broken or lost or destroyed is attributed to Trevor who is so nice he does not dare to tell on his friend. Even when his loyalty is tested to the limit, he grits his teeth and accepts his punishment.
The children found the illustrations hilarious. The expressions on the dogs' faces are priceless - Pig is delightfully devious while poor, harassed Trevor is the epitome of the downtrodden victim. Even the flyleaf is a stroke of genius as it features a scribbled comment which I nearly blamed on the children before I realised it was part of the story!
I like the ending and so did the children - it was satisfying insofar as both the bully and the victim ended up feeling positive about each other. And it is interesting that the humans barely featured in the picture - there is a set of hands in one picture, but otherwise the story belongs entirely to the dogs. Which is exactly as it should be!
Although Pig the Fibber is the sequel to Pig the Pug none of us had read the first book. I was pleased to see that it didn't matter. The second book didn't require any prior knowledge about their adventures. When I first showed the book to my girls (5.5 and 7 years) I had to explain the title. Miss 5.5 was confused because there wasn't a pig on the front cover, but a dog instead. I also explained that pug was a type of dog. Neither of them had come across the term fibber but knew what lies were. They realised before opening the book that Pig was a naughty dog and were keen to find out what he would get in trouble for.
Miss 7 has always struggled with her reading so both her and I were very pleased to see that she was capable of reading most of this book herself. Certainly after we had read it together a couple of times she could read the whole story confidently. For Miss 5.5 she enjoyed guessing what the rhyming words were. As a Mum I was delighted that this book was getting them both hooked into reading.
The book was funny but it carried an important message about being honest and a good friend. My girls could tell me, often without me prompting what the right thing for Pig to do was. They also had an empathy for Trevor who was getting the blame for his friend's deeds. Miss 7 had recently been 10 pin bowling with Brownies so she knew how heavy a bowling ball was but her little sister didn't but cringed when we told her.
At $21 for a hardcover picture book I feel it is great value. The paperbook version will probably be cheaper but a book like this will be loved to death so it is worth investing in the durable hardcover. We have added Pig's first book to our list of books to get out from the library. I'm sure we will love it just as much.
I applied to KIWIreviews to review a copy of Pig the Fibber at a time when my daughter and her friends are starting to tell wee white lies, As my daughter is a huge animal lover, and a massive lover of reading, books are her chosen 'treat' items to buy, so she loves Kr parcels, especially when there is books. I had hoped that if chosen to review, the book would help my daughter see that some lies can lead to troubles.
I was stoked the day the book arrived from Kr and flicking through the book I couldn't wait for my girl to get home from school so I could give her the book. I liked that the book was a decent size. Its hard cover too which means if well read it will last longer, and of course it has a simple yet bright dust jacket cover too. Nothing to busy or over-bearing about the cover.
Madi came home from school, she spotted the book before she had even taken her jacket off. That always amuses me, especially when she doesnt even know theres new books around lol Book spotted, child grinning, it is time to read. There was a moment of brief confusion as to why pug was crossed out and rellaced with fibber, especially when pig was still a puv he was just a fibbing pug lol some kids read way to much into things that don't need reading into haha
The story, like the cover, is a simple one. Its about a pug who needs to learn its not ok on his friends to tell lies, and someone will get hurt! It is easy to read, with comical true to word picturez through-out. Theres a laugh or two to be had, a point to make and a lesson to be learned....and learn it pig, and his readers did. Lying really can hurt, whether its others or yourself, someone will get hurt.
I am glad I was sent this to review, my daughter enjoys readinv it, and I enjoyed teaching her about lying without having to be all disciplinary about it. Thank you :)
Mr 5 chose this book out of a pile of books. He said that it looked funny. The front cover certainly grabbed his attention. Both of my children wanted to know why the word 'Pug' was crossed out. This started the ball rolling with the interest in the book.
The book is bound with a nice hard cover. I found that the yellow colour on the front of the book stood out amongst a pile of books and attracted my eye as well. Pig's face looks funny and it really showed that the book was going to be funny.
Last year, together with my then Mr 4, we read and reviewed 'Pig the Pug'. Although we liked it, it didn't become one of our favourite books to read. 'Pig the Fibber', on the other hand has already grabbed the attention of the children and both Mr 5 and Miss 3 love it. I think that now we have read this book, we will go back to 'Pig the Pug' and enjoy it even more.
The illustrations are in the same style as the ones in 'Pig the Pug'. I like the clean look to the pages and the white space has been used to great effect. The pictures of Pig and Trevor are very humorous and add to the enjoyment of the book.
Rhyme has been used in the book and the kids enjoyed that. Mr 5 was enjoying trying to work out the last word of each chunk of text. He worked out quickly that it would have to work within the rhyming format.
We discussed what a lie was and I think it was a good opportunity to talk about how important it is to tell the truth and that lies don't pay off in the long run. Over the past week, we have actually referred back to the book a number of times in our every day lives as we talk about honesty and friendship.
The other day, Miss 3 tried to climb up in the pantry to get some snacks that she wasn't supposed to have. When I saw her, I reminded her of what happened to Pig the Fibber in the cupboard. She said that she shouldn't be climbing in the pantry as a ball might fall on her head! She got the message.
Mr 5's reaction to the book was "its funny. It tells you about not lying because you will learn your lesson and might get a big damage on your head and your nose. Pig blames the dog (Trevor) and that is not nice and the dog is supposed to be his friend.".
This is one that we will read over and over and I think the strong honesty and friendship messages will help the children to think and learn, while they laugh their heads off!
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