THE GREAT PIG SEARCH

Christelow’s jolly tale revisits Bert, Ethel, and the troublemaking pigs from The Great Escape (1994). Once again the pigs have fled Bert and Ethel’s Vermont farm, “ ‘without so much as a thank-you,’ ” grumbles Bert. But Bert can’t shake the pigs escape from his mind, nor the mysterious postcard sent from Florida with the message “Oink!” Ethel recommends a holiday, and Bert buys tickets for Florida. Once there, he drives Ethel (and not a few Floridians) crazy with his incessant pig search. (Not that young readers will rest any easier as they ferret out the porkers hiding under sunbonnets and behind palm trees.) Bert never does see the pigs right under his own nose—C’mon Bert, that cabbie has cloven hands on the wheel—until it’s too late. Maybe they’ll send him another postcard. Christelow’s squiggly lines and dabs of bright watercolor are a perfect counterpoint to the deadpan text, which will have readers rooting for the pigs and laughing as the hapless Bert finds nothing but trouble in this snorter of a hide-and-seek picture book. (Picture book. 5-8)