Pigs Love Potatoes

by Anika Aldamuy Denise, Christopher Denise (Illustrator)

One pig wants potatoes . . . then so does his brother . . . his sister makes it three pigs, and Papa makes four. Then there are the neighbors! Now all the piggies want potatoes, and soon it's one big potato party!

Anika and Christopher Denise have teamed up to create this most charming, classic counting book, full of picture-perfect pigs and pleasing rhyme. Children will love Pigs Love Potatoes as much as, well, pigs love potatoes. And as you'll see, that's quite a bit!

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Counting, Storytime, Childrens, Animals, Family

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few cute pigs get a hankering for some spuds. Luckily Mom is up to the task, though she expects a little help from her hungry piggies. There's not much more to the story than that, though it unspools in a delightful rhyme, and the gorgeous artwork by Christopher Denise is adorable.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mamma Pig needs a vacation.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know pigs love potatoes? I did not, even though I grew up on a pig farm!

A few years ago I discovered this book when scouring our library shelves for a read aloud appropriate for Kindergarten in February. This has become a favorite Valentine read ever since.

ONE pig wants potatoes
So Mamma starts to cook.

This is a counting book. As more pigs appear, Mamma adds a potato each time. What I love are the illustrations with suble clues to a happy household.

🥔Little sister is dancing around in her tutu.
🥔The three siblings help Mamma by peeling the potatoes.
🥔When Pappa Piggy comes home, he sits down with the little pigs and they pile peelings on his head that look like hair.
🥔The little family sits on their porch swing to wait for the potatoes to be ready to eat.
🥔The neighbor comes over with flowers. Mamma is busy stirring the potatoes and indicates that Pappa should put them in a vase. He has a "Who, me?" look on his face.
🥔Three more pigs come by taking the number up to 9. That little piggie wears a shirt with the number on it.
🥔One last potato for Mamma - #10.
🥔They all enjoy the potato feast with a green salad and those flowers on the table.
🥔The only thing that Mamma tells
Her piggies they must do
Is kiss her cheek and clear their plates
When piggies are all through.
🥔Their tuxedo cat is in nearly every illustration. Sadly, despite her begging, she does not get her own plate.

[Olivia S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute counting story, about all the pigs deciding they want potatoes. Cute illustrations, with details to talk about, love the pet cat. My only complaint is that Mamma is the one cooking, and Pappa is the one coming home from work, but the other pigs (including dad) help peel and clear their plates, so it's not too bad. Very little text, good for little ones.

[Ashlyn Ewert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cute book! This would be a good book to teach children about counting and about rhyming. In the book the pigs who want potatoes begin to add up and at the end you have nine pigs eating. I think children will think that this is a fun book and will enjoy reading it. The illustrations are very detailed. It was interesting looking at all the details in the illustrations.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mother pig cooks potatoes for her family and their guests, teaching counting up 1-to-10.

My children and I were horrified that the piglets, i.e. children, were allowed to peel the potatoes with actual knives.

As someone who was once fed boiled potatoes (peeled and quartered) regularly as a staple standing side dish, I was also mystified as to why rinsing, peeling, and boiling 10 potatoes whole is presented as a lot of work. It's not like cooking au gratin potatoes or hasselback potatoes or twice baked stuffed potatoes.

The illustrations were done in acrylic and charcoal on board.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun story is written in bouncy rhyme with adorable illustrations to enjoy. Mama pig cooks potatoes for the family, and then one more and one more for everyone who shows up to eat. Great counting book with the bonus of manners displayed.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigs love potatoes so mama makes some for supper with the help of her family, and they keep getting more visitors who share in their meal.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simple, rhyming counting book about pigs that want potatoes. It might be a good primary grade read. Simple and enjoyable.

[Kenson and kirra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like potatoes espescially french fries. i like to help my mom cook too.

[Eleanor W · Rating 2 out of 5]

10 pigs eat potatoes. If you are looking for a book with numbers and words that start with the letter p then you might want this book.

[Lex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another favorite around our house; the kids always beg me to te-read it! :)

[Christine Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Countdown to Kindergarten: Letter P.

Picks help Mama make potatoes. More pigs join for dinner as the story progresses. Lots of "p" words.

[Beth Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

lol, this was a fun counting book about a family/community of pigs eating potatoes. Unfortunately, the way the potatoes were cooked did NOT look very appetizing for me. :P Just boiled plain.

[Jessica Meetze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story! Illustrations are cute as well.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of alliteration. Perpetually pleasing.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book about a family of pigs (plus a neighbor!) who love eating potatoes. I enjoyed the funny extras in the illustrations, like one of the brothers feeding his potatoes to the cat.

[Brittaney Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denise, A.(2007).Pigs love potatoes. New York: Philomel Books.

The book "Pigs Love Potatoes" by Anika Denise and illustrated by Christopher Denise, is a funny and very entertaining book about a family of pigs. well, these pigs like potatoes! the story starts with the little pig wanting momma pig to cook potatoes and each time something comes in another pig is added to the story line. It goes from the family of pigs wanting potatoes to the neighbors coming into eat the potatoes momma pig cooked. This book is so delightful and shows the numbers as each pig enters the story. It also has the rhyming element throughout the story. I really enjoyed this book. I think its an excellent counting book for children to associate numbers with objects and actually visualize counting. I would definitely read this to pre-k children up until kindergarten because they are learning their number and how to count. I really think children will find this story funny with the family of pigs and them loving potatoes!

[Natalie Cosellian · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. This book takes place in a house kitchen,where one pig wants a potato, which then turned into nine pigs wanting potatoes. This book counts the pigs up to ten. It also is easy to read with the way it rhymes. This book reminds me of another book, ten little monkeys jumping on the bed. They both use animals, a mother, counting, and rhyme. Looking back through the textbook it talked about the history of children's literature. This book is modern and is a fictional picture book. I liked the book because it is easy to read to children when it rhymes. this book would be good for teaching children counting numbers. I also liked that the book had a family aspect and showed the pigs helping the mother peel the potatoes.

[Lynn Plourde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute counting book featuring pigs and potatoes. The text is sweet (in a good way) and spot on with the rhyme. The illustrations make the pigs seem like a porcine-version of the Waltons complete with porch-settin' and neighbors visiting and a feast for ten around the table. Kids can count the pigs and the potatoes enjoy the gentle humor (a pig in a tutu, a pig painter). Downsides...the ending felt forced and the potatoes on the endpapers look more like rocks than potatoes. But more pluses than minuses.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good option for a pig, food, or Thanksgiving theme. The rhyming worked well. There is counting in there. That could help it work for Toddler. This would be more of a filler in Preschool. The best part is the humor found in the illustrations, best seen in a lap-read or read-alone.

11/23/16 Used in food/Thanksgiving preschool theme. We counted the pigs and showed the fingers as we kept adding piggies. The kids liked that part. The newer boy figured out what was happening to daddy pig's head (which is one of my favorite things in the book). There were smiles, so I count it successful.

[Ramanda Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a cute little book. It's about nine pigs wanting potatoes. The story starts with one little pig wanting a potatoe then another pig comes in and so the story goes until there are nine piggies that want potatoes.
I think this is a good rhyming book that can help children learn to count by seeing the number of pigs and seeing the the letters that spell the number.

[Tara Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This is a book I would read to my future class. This book uses a clever number theme. The illistarations are perfect for the story and the concept is good. This would be a story I would read just for fun to fill three or four mins. This book would be good for younger children who are just learning to count. This is a good easy book for children.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is full of words with the /p/ sound so it can be used for students who are working with this letter. It also counts to ten which would be good to use with students working on counting to ten.
I would bring in potatoes and have the students count them. I would also have them write a paragraph about potatoes using as them "p" words as they could.

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

3/27/17 - Read with Naomi & Julia
11/6/17 Read with Julia.
5/6/18 Read with Naomi & Julia.
7/16/18 Read with Julia.
3/2/19 Read with Naomi and Julia
1/13/20 Read with Julia
11/3/20 Read with Julia
6/4/21 Read with Julia, Simon, & Andres

9/18/23 Read with Charlotte
9/19/23 Read with Skylar
8/28/24 Read with Charlotte

[Jeff Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book 2-8 times a day to my son, Izze. It is a delightful tale of a sow and her swine family preparing for a meal consisting chiefly of potatoes. Exciting full-page illustrations make this one a winner with the 2YO crowd, and the 30YO crowd.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was fitting for us tonight as my own son asked for baked potatoes for dinner, then little brother said he loved potatoes too and little sister was jumping around making a fuss. So, the book was a little bit of deja vu for us later in the evening.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gathering a collection for use outside of the library. There was on the cover the cutest little pig ever. Took a minute and read it. Okay, any pig in a tutu is just what I needed to end my day on a great note. :)

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great rhyming read-aloud story of a little pig who wants a potato so his mother begins to cook. Then the little brother and sister show up. Then father pig, then the neighbor and 3 neighbor children. In all 10 potatoes are cooked and eaten.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

One little piggy wants a potato to eat and soon others want potatoes to eat--all the way to 10 various young and adult pigges. The illustration of the small pig placing potato peelings on Daddy pig's head to create hair is particularly charming.