PUG MEETS PIG

A little dog named Pug is perfectly happy in his cozy, suburban world until pushy Pig moves in.

Pug lives in a big house with a fenced backyard and his own little doghouse to sleep in. Pig arrives (seemingly out of nowhere) wearing a friendly smile and a dress with a ruffled collar. She moves right in on Pug’s territory, slurping up his dog food, making friends with the neighbor cat, and taking over Pug’s doghouse. Pug is ready to leave home, but a new doggy door (installed by the unseen owner) gives him the ability to get in and out of the main house, while Pig can’t fit through the little door. Pug takes pity on poor Pig, gnawing on the door to enlarge it so it can be a “piggy door” for Pig’s convenience as well. Pug and Pig then immediately begin to share everything, becoming best friends and living happily together. Pug’s abrupt change of heart is a bit too sudden to be believable, with Pig not really earning her acceptance as a new housemate. The simple, understated text with just a few words on each page will be enjoyed by younger preschoolers and will also be accessible to new readers, and the jaunty, oversized illustrations have a cheerful, straightforward appeal that suits the text. The only human characters are three neighbor children who can be seen peeking over the fence at Pug and Pig; all are children of color. Pig and Pug, by Lynne Barry and illustrated by Gemma Correll (2015), covers similar territory but with more sophisticated humor.

A mildly humorous story that doesn’t really stand out in the crowded arena of interspecies friendship.