Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The narrator--rendered in McPhail's trademark style as an appealing, vulnerable man--is peacefully reading when his home is invaded by pigs: ``Pigs in tutus,/Pigs in kilts,/Pigs on skateboards,/Pigs on stilts./Pigs from England,/Pigs from France,/Pigs in just/Their underpants.'' Coming by a fantastical variety of transport (e.g., a parachute, and the mammoth ship ``S. S. Swine''), the motley crowd gets right down to the business of gorging on a giant stack of pizzas, which they chomp, play with, and fling about but don't share with the narrator (``I get nothing,/Just the bill''). Summoning his confidence, their unwilling host cries, ``Get out''--whereupon the pigs affectionately beg forgiveness, clean up, and crowd cozily into his bed. The deftly phrased verse and the pigs' shenanigans and outlandish costumes are pretty funny; the similarity to The Cat in the Hat is obvious, but probably only adults will see the parallel with teenagers (or adult children living with their parents). Kids can just revel in the mayhem, which is truly ``galore.'' (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

/*STARRED REVIEW*/ Ages 4-8. Late one night a man sits reading. He thinks he hears the sound of feeding. He certainly does. It's pigs! And not just any old pigs. There are "Pigs in tutus, / Pigs in kilts, / Pigs on skateboards, / Pigs on stilts. / Pigs from England, / Pigs from France / Pigs in just / Their underpants" (make that a bra and underpants in one piggy's case). The rhyme is bouncy enough, but it's the pictures that will have parents and kids howling. Using deep watercolors set against a black background, McPhail presents a magnificent group of porkers, whose capacity for costumes and capers is truly wondrous. We have rapper pigs, Elvis impersonators, and members of various sporting teams. They not only arrive by bus, train, and plane, but they also eat everything in sight, and then have the audacity to order in pizzas--which they use for a boisterous pizza fight. Though the man tries to rid himself of the pesky piggies, he finally realizes he's fighting a losing battle. McPhail, author of the Pig Pig books, is obviously no stranger to the species, but in this tale the pigs run completely amok, much to the enjoyment of everyone--except, perhaps, the man who just wanted to spend the evening with a good book. Kids will find this a very good book indeed. (Reviewed Apr. 1, 1993)0525450793Ilene Cooper