PIG TOWN PARTY

A girl receives a mysterious letter.

“Dear Cutie: You are invited to the annual Pig Town Party,” reads the invitation that floats through the narrator’s mail slot. The child, tan-skinned with triangular black pigtails, a cartoonishly square jaw, and dots for eyes, agrees that she is a cutie, but she has many questions, not the least of which is, “Where is Pig Town?” The porcine mail carrier whom she asks for directions darts through a hole in a hedge, and when the girl follows, she ends up in a town populated entirely by anthropomorphic pigs. When the child finds the eponymous party in full swing, all the pigs seem to be in costume. What’s more, pigs keep complimenting her costume, even though she isn’t wearing one, just her regular blue dress. When Cutie is announced as the winner of the costume contest, the child wonders if there’s been a mistake. That’s when the real Cutie, a pig wearing an identical blue dress, appears and demands her rightful prize, a huge chocolate cake; this has all been a case of mistaken identity. But the child refuses to back down. Marked by droll humor in both the text and the images, this farcical tale stars a protagonist with outsize expressions and a big personality. The satisfying resolution sees the mischievous youngster get her just deserts.

Absurdly funny.