SPARKLE PIGS #2

Guinea pig pals return for more wacky escapades.

In the first series installment, orderly Muffin and hyperactive Ziggy discovered that their hutch held a secret portal to Piggie-Town, a dazzling world where the Sparkle Pigs enjoy living it up. This tale opens with the pair receiving an invitation to the Grand Sparkle Parade. Though Muffin’s usually averse to chaos, mess, and noise, she’s tempted: Piggie-Town is a fabulous, glittery extravaganza, after all. But she didn’t realize that she and Ziggy would be leading the parade! The pigs take dress-up to the next level (“It was like a flock of parrots had rolled around in a bag of glitter”). Distractible Ziggy plays the trumpet in a band, while Muffin tries hopelessly to organize the marchers in straight lines; a trip through a field of dandelions has everyone sneezing. When they find Big Pig blocking the route, Muffin becomes frustrated, and even Ziggy has a moment of self-doubt. But everything comes to a suitably cheery conclusion, with both Ziggy and Muffin learning that sometimes unexpected detours make for the most delightful journeys. The writing is snappy, with the occasional challenging vocabulary word. Abundant black-and-white illustrations convey Ziggy’s frantic level of rodent activity, though when she’s revved up, eyes popping and fur flying, she barely resembles a guinea pig.

Another effervescent reminder that a pair of opposites can make a perfect working team.