The Princess and the Pig

The Princess and the Pig

Written by: Jonathan Emmett

Illustrated by: Poly Bernatene

Walker Children’s, 2011

32 Pages

 

​Emmett uses a very different approach in this fun and fancy fairytale, a young princess somehow exchanges lives with a little down on the farm piglet. The King and Queen are beyond furious, while the farmer and his wife are thrilled for their new blessing, forgetting the girl was ever a pig. The princess grows up happy and free on the little farm, but the tiny pig does not have the same fate. The King and Queen have a lot on their hands trying to make a miserable pig a lovely princess. How will the little pig ever be happy?

 

​The illustrations in this story are very surreal digital drawings. The colors and lines really set the mood for this whimsical fairytale. Bernatene uses a great deal of detail to make sure the very different lifestyles of the Royals and the farmers are captured. The princess’ carefree life is truly shown, while the little pig’s sadness and chaos is as plain as day in the pictures.

 

​I would use this book for a language arts activity, of course, it’s a fairytale! I give a quick book talk and then have my students write a short essay about what they think caused the princess and the pig to switch places before we read the story. I would let some of them share their ideas to document on the board while we read. I would read this book before doing a science experiment based off of how the pig and princess got switched. I would ask, is it really possible for the pig to fly back up that high from the force of the princess hitting the haystack?

I would also use this book for a Reader’s Theater play. Have the students read the story in small group and give out parts such as; farmer, princess, pig, narrator, queen, etc….  The students could even rewrite the story where the princess and the pig never switch places. What would the pig’s life be like? How would the princess be different?