THE MARZIPAN PIG

🇬🇧 Description:

From the inimitable team of Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake, the pair behind Captain Najork and The Twenty Elephant Restaurant, comes an enchanting story of a little pig made of marzipan. Fallen behind the sofa, nobody hears the lost marzipan pig’s cries for help. And, after many months, a mouse discovers him and eats him up, having never known such sweetness. But a longing to be loved passes from the marzipan pig to the mouse … and so begins a curious chain of events featuring a dancing owl, a glowing taxi meter, a buzzing bee and a pinky-orange hibiscus flower – all triggered by the little lost marzipan pig. Each encounter more wonderful and more romantic than the last, just how far will the marzipan’s sweetness travel?

Reviews:

“Children—the least sentimental beings on this planet—will recognize this remarkable book for what it is, a story about the great sweet mysteries of love and mortality.” —Kathryn Davis

"Hoban gives each [character] here an individual personality, grounding the story so that what might have been bizarre or pretentious is matter-of-fact and affecting. Blake's watercolors are understated yet so expressive they make an owl's love for the glowing light of a taxi meter or a worker bee's kindness to a dying hibiscus flower entirely believable." —Martha V. Parravano

"Each new turn is the occasion for some entertaining repartee as well as implicit ruminations on love between two beings that may not share a language or seem to communicate. This is all more accessible and fun than it may sound in summary. Hoban's deft, poetic style is perfect for sharing aloud; Blake's many humorous illustrations (black-and-white and thus more subdued than usual) enliven the attractive format. A good choice for young readers who enjoy fantasy." —Kirkus Reviews

"Exploring the same themes of love and its redeeming power as in The Mouse and His Child, Hoban incorporates humor and adventure in this short, fable-like story. Blake's charcoal-and-ink drawings charmingly illuminate the text." —Publishers Weekly