20 September 2017 by Christina Barker
Title: Golden Pig (Stories of animal sign series)
Author: Xue Lin
Reviewer: Christina Barker
On the front cover, Golden Pig is eating plants on the field. It’s very colourful. The book is actually colourful throughout, more so than some of the other books in my opinion.
Golden Pig was a very greedy pig. I now know where the saying ‘greedy as a pig’ comes from! Golden Pig eventually learnt his lesson and starts to become less selfish. He turned out to be a very clever pig and rather helpful to others. I was surprised to read that the pig came first in the pig race after his poor eating habits.
I think this book teaches children that they should never give up and keep on trying. Even though Golden Pig kept eating, he was still fast and came twelfth in the animal race!
Reviewer: Taylor Brooker
I think this story is especially great for young children, mostly because it’s quite simple and easy to read, but also because the story follows a young pig who is often told off for eating too much and wanting too much, and has to learn to give back in return for the things she is given. This makes it good for young people because it’s a great moral to learn at a young age, especially since it involves siblings and helping each other. Furthermore, pigs are something we see quite a lot, so although it’s a Chinese tale and involves the 12 animal zodiac race, it doesn’t feel alien or like it’s from an entirely different culture. Snowflake’s aim is to bridge the cultural gap, and I think this book is especially effective at doing that.
The colours in the illustrations are all very bright, also making it really attractive to children. Although they’re bright and child-friendly, they’re also easy to appreciate as an adult too, as you can see all the detail in them and the time that’s been spent on each one, especially the pages that are set in the pig-sty! I really like the illustrations on the last page the most, as we see some of the animals from the other books also competing in the race, which ties all the books together.