PIGSTICKS AND HAROLD AND THE PIRATE TREASURE

Pig Pigsticks and hamster Harold return for a third installment of their odd-couple story for newly independent readers.

This short chapter book is tall on laughs as it tells the story of Pigsticks and Harold’s determined efforts to pay off the greedy Sir Percival Snout before his claim to their beloved town is realized. He’s produced a deed saying he owns Tuptown, and he plans to destroy it all to make way for “a gold-plated mansion…IN THE SHAPE OF MY HEAD!” unless the pair can come up with a huge amount of money. Luckily, Pigsticks remembers that ancestor Pirate Pigbeard the Awesome left a map to a hidden treasure, and he and Harold follow the clues to find it. High jinks ensue, and a map and many labeled illustrations on several spreads ratchet up the absurd humor of the friends’ adventure. A twist at the end of the story leaves the pair triumphant with “Sir Pervical Snout squeal[ing] off into the distance, his curly tail between his legs.” The digital art is bright and energetic, and it’s at its best when adding humorous asides through comic-art conventions such as sound effects and dialogue bubbles (the seabirds’ song is particularly amusing).

A silly gem of a chapter book.