A PIG NAMED PERRIER

“Perrier was no ordinary pig.” He’s a miniature potbellied pig with a pedigree, a Beverly Hills mansion, and his own uniformed nanny in this amusingly quirky tale. Perrier travels the world with his movie-star owner, Marbella, though he is never quite happy and is always yearning for something to make him feel satisfied. On an excursion to their country estate, Perrier joins some farm pigs for a romp in the mud that leaves him feeling ecstatic, though his newfound pleasure is quashed when Marbella extracts his promise to “stay clean.” He pines for the pleasures of mud, growing “pale and listless,” until Marbella shares her mud-based facial masks with him, followed by a visit to a luxurious hot springs for his birthday to sample the mud baths. Matje (City of Ink Drinkers, not reviewed, etc.) captures both Perrier’s wistful loneliness and his overblown lifestyle in stylish illustrations using sophisticated shades of pink, gray, and mud-brown mocha. While amusing to adults, much of the droll humor here will be over the heads of children unfamiliar with paparazzi, Perrier, and pedigrees. There’s something rather chilling about Perrier’s emptiness and longing, his hide-tingling physical ecstasy in a forbidden substance, his reluctant, repeated promises to “stay clean,” and his ultimate satisfaction in an expensive consumer product and an “exclusive celebrity hideaway.” Fizzy, but not very satisfying. (Picture book. 5-8)