LITTLE FLOWER

Sweetly winning as the main character may be, Rand’s story is mildly confusing enough to keep readers from fully enjoying the book. Little Flower is a potbellied pig in the care of Miss Pearl. Little Flower is darling, all grins and feathery bristles as drawn by Paddington’s illustrator, and she is most proud of a trick she has learned: to roll over, poke her trotters at the sky, and play dead. Miss Pearl has Little Flower perform this stunt for her neighbors, who roundly applaud the pig, all except for the Highchews, a stuffy couple from next door who are not amused. When Miss Pearl falls and injures her hip, it is up to Little Flower to get help. But how? Little Flower figures her trick might garner attention, but it is not until she plays dead in the middle of the road that anyone notices. Of course, in the middle of a busy road she could just as well have been standing on her head or dancing the polka as playing dead. Then, seemingly out of the blue, the Highchews agree to care for the pig (the one they didn’t find amusing) until Miss Pearl returns from the hospital. Later, readers learn that they took her in because they considered her a hero. Would they have given her the bum’s rush if she weren’t a hero? Have they turned a new leaf or are they opportunists? Little Flower is a simple pig, and her adventures should be equally so. (Picture book. 4-7)