BORIS GETS A LIZARD

Boris, an ugly but somehow truly winsome warthog, is back for another outing.

Formatted like an early chapter book rather than in the typical, larger early-reader configuration, this effort is intended for a rather young audience, with just a sentence or two at most of fairly simple, large-print text per page and ample full-color, cartoonlike illustrations. Though he already has lots of pets, Boris is determined to get himself a Komodo dragon. Does it matter to him that these oversized lizards might not make good pets since they have sharp teeth and poisonous spit? Not at all. When his parents don’t provide the desired pet, he hatches a scheme to get the local zoo to bring theirs to his house for a vacation. Certain it must be coming, he invites his entire class to stop by to see it. When the zoo demurs, Boris has to think fast—and substitutes a tiny skink and a good story. For a warthog with only a handful of facial expressions, Boris conveys a lot of emotion with expressive body language. He encounters situations that readers will recognize and identify with, and they just possibly will laugh out loud at his creative solution.

A fun romp with an anthropomorphized swine will leave beginning readers “hog wild” at their accomplishments.