Hog-Eye

by Susan Meddaugh

A young pig uses her ability to read to outwit a wolf that intends to eat her.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 1995

About the author

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for Good Stones (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including Martha Speaks, which was chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts. - from HMHBooks.com

Susan Meddaugh, a New England Book Award Winner, adores Halloween and calls it "THE major Holiday" in her household, in part, she says "because it's the only time in the year when you get to be someone else." - from Candlewick.com

Reviews

[Jimmy Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susan Macaulay’s picture book about a family of pigs where one young hog on her way to school gets lost in route to school is another classic example of a child story where the pig outwits the bad wolf and escapes being on the dinner menu. Unlike the author’s other books where the character is identified with a name, the author leaves me wondering if the hog is a boy or girl until we read the second page. The hog leads us onto the bus where no kids are present and finds her destination getting farther away. To make matters worse the bus driver just leaves the hog on the side of the road and you know what happens next. A short cut through the woods leads the hog into the bag of the wolf and from there it is an exercise in clever tactics to get the wolf exhausted and ready to give up.

The story and idea seemed rather overused as an adult I have seen similar stories told by other author’s using the wolf as the bad character. I was expecting maybe a different twist to the classical tale of pig meets wolf and wolf attempts to eat pig, however, I didn’t find much interest in the story after the first failed attempt by the pig to escape. What I do like where the reactions captured by the illustrator in depicting how upset the parents where at the hog and how the brother kept tossing blame back to the hog. Overall, a good book for a beginner reader and a story most readers of children literature are already familiar with and have read again and again.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun story about how a pig who can read escapes from the soup pot of a wolf who can't.

"Hog-eye! Hog-eye! Magic stare!
Make him itchy everywhere.
On his nose and in his hair.
Even in his underwear!"

[Kelly Ayala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not much of a fan of this book. It seemed like deja vu and reminded me a lot about the little red riding hood, except in this book the pig explaining why she missed school. I found the book to be a little predictable and just guessed there was going to be a wolf involved. Might be more interesting to a younger child!

[Lisa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great by Susan Meddaugh! Such a smart little piggie girl. Loved the story and much as my little.

[Louie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inventive take on a little pig vs the big bad wolf story, with lively illustrstions, but the telling of the tale itself was ultimately dry and not very interesting.

[Janna Gifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hog-Eye by Susan Macaulay is a picture book that targets children in the primary age group. The book is a retelling of the three little pigs, where the hog tells her family an elaborate story of how she got kidnapped from a wolf who wanted to eat her in a soup. In the story, she talked to the wolf and got the wolf to go get the ingredients for the soup , She finally had the wolf get poison ivy where she told the wolf that she casted a spell on him to make him itchy and the wolf let her go. I would rate this with four stars with the plot and pictures. Based on the plot alone, I think that the story will have the children laughing the entire time because of how the hog gets the wolf to do what she wants and how she hoodwinked the wolf. I think that the children can relate to this story because they probably have made a story sound so fantastical and twisted it that the story was far from the truth anymore. I think that the illustration of the hog and what she went through was fantastic because there are vibrant colors throughout the story. I love how the pictures really tell a true story without the words alone and that any child can look at these pictures and tell what is going on in the story. I just love the pictures of all of the hogs especially when they are all on the bus and they look so cute and interesting that it kept me interested to see the next picture. I think that this picture book is great for students to do sequencing and telling a story because the students can write/draw each step of the Hog’s journey through the story.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hog-eye is a story told from the perspective of a young pig trying to justify missing school. The small storyteller weaves together a very predictable tale with a forest, and a wolf, and of course, the inevitable pot for pig stew. The word bubbles (containing reactions of pig family members) that surround the main text are more interesting to read than the story itself. The book attempts to humorously point out a positive of learning to read: you can trick your illiterate enemies. This may or may not be true, and left me feeling a little less than inspired or laughing. In all fairness, my daughter giggled through the story while I yawned. It appealed to her childlike experience and she thought the wolf's struggles were funny.
The water color pictures were pleasing, but not impressive. Some might find the depiction of a pig family with both parents and many piglets an extinct reality, but the concern the family showed for one of its members is worth focusing on. As stated before, I thought the piglet siblings' responses exhibited true to life reactions that were more worth smiling about. There are possibilities for enjoyment and discussions with children about the benefits of literacy using this text, but only if nothing better can be found.

[Shawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not crazy about this book. Maybe because I am older and think more logically? To start the girl pig showed up late to the house and her family was waiting. She did not go to school and told an elborate story about taking the wrong bus and being kid napped by a wolf. The wolf was determined to make soup out of the piggy.
Somehow she talked the wolf into getting into poison ivy so she could escape. The whole story just seemed like a lie to me. The story got more crazy as the story contiued on. In my opinion the lies kept getting worse and worse. The piggy played with the emotions of her families concerns for her well being.
The story wasn't even good. There was nothing to learn from this story at all. Unless you want to promote lying to get out of being in trouble. It was not appealing at all. Nor were the illustrations. Sorry this book gets two thumbs down.

[Reem · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hog-Eye is a picture book written by Susan Meddaugh. This book tells a story about a little pig that her worried family that wanted to know why she missed the school. She started to tell them the true story about how she used her ability to read to outwit a wolf that tried to eat her. I like the story and I it a 4 stars because I think besides it is good and funny; it has a deep massage too. The author wants to inform children that they should lesson to their parents to avoid dangers in their life.
When I look at the design of the book and how the author ties to use most of the space to illustrate the story with a lot of drawings. She cares about tiny details such as trash thrown from the bus window to show how kids are irresponsible as the little pig described them. Also, I like it when the author included family’s reactions while the story goes on.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story about a young piglet whose family wants to know why she was missing from school all day. The story details what the piglet tells her family and the adventures she gets in with a wolf in the forest, that the reader may question whether or not the story is true. This story could be used for discussion with students about reliable and unreliable narrators. The story is cute and humorous, and dialogue bubbles and the illustrations add another level of comprehension to the text itself. The details that are a part of the illustrations, along with the significant amount of text may not make this the best read aloud for very young. But the great use of voice could make it work for older students (grd 2-4).

[Brittney Warf · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOG-EYE by Susan Meddaugh is a fantastic book! When I first started reading the story I thought to myself, "here we go woth another red riding hood story", but I was completely wrong. This book started of by the hog getting captured by a wolf and then the wolf wanted to make soup. Well I thought it was hilarious that the hog sent the wolf on a huge scavenger hunt to find the ingredients. Finally the hog cast a spell on the wolf making him all itchy and she promised to take the spell away if she was released. The best part of the story is the very last page when you see the picture of the wolf and the wolf says "She didn't release the spell...Never trust a pig". This book will leave you laughing until the very last page!

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was okay. I was hoping this book would be exceptionally different from a lot of other books, but i found it to be not so original. Basically, a hog is kidnapped by a wolf, which to me is no different from plenty other story lines, and has to do her best to escape the wold so that she is able to remain alive. She is finally able to outwit the wold and get away safely and unharmed. One thing that i did really enjoy about this book were the illustrations. They definitely added to the book and made it more enticing to read. They are colorful and unlike a lot of the other types of illustrations that I see in other children's books.

[Savannah Montalvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hog-Eye by Susan Meddaugh was a creative revision of the Little Red Riding Hood. It was a cute and funny book from start to finish. Throughout the story, the illustrations and dialogues from the piglets family members kept my attention. I found myself wanting to find out what happens next. I think this book would be great for children because its humorous and colorful.

[Christine Levinge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious! The pig in this book spends the majority of the story outsmarting a wolf that is trying to eat her. She tricks him over and over again, and it keeps the kids laughing and trying to guess what is going to happen next.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story told by a pig explaining to her parents why she missed school. Of course it involves a pig-napping, a wolf and a pot of soup. There are some clever twists along the way that left the kids laughing - always a good sign.

[Tessa Klebaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great spin on the big bad wolf and the three little pigs. The main pig has to figure out a way to escape from the wolf so he doesn't eat her. She ends up having him collect ingredients for soup which in turn he gets cooked into.

[Rose]

E Med

[Ange · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny! This book always makes me giggle. I love the speech balloons.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book. It's such a great bed-time story for kids because adults like it as much as the kids - kind of like William Steig. Go Susan Meddaugh! Don't forget to read her bio in the back!

[Sandra Vicars · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of a pig that outsmarts a fox by "reading" a recipe. Hog-Eye is a fanciful story that will make kids laugh. Not one of my favorite stories.

[Aspasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A precocious pig uses her reading to skills to get out of dangerous situation involving an illiterate wolf.

[Melanie]

Smart/strong girl story. Girl outwits the wolf.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple and fun story, great imagination.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun!

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for teaching sequencing. Would pair nicely with Outfoxed.