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Pigs Love Potatoes

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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!

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

2 people are currently reading
121 people want to read

About the author

Anika Aldamuy Denise

20 books90 followers

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5 stars
104 (28%)
4 stars
115 (32%)
3 stars
111 (30%)
2 stars
25 (6%)
1 star
4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
Profile Image for Melki.
7,412 reviews2,638 followers
January 21, 2021
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.

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Profile Image for Darla.
5,000 reviews1,296 followers
January 28, 2025
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.
Profile Image for Olivia S.
781 reviews9 followers
May 1, 2018
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.
75 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2023
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.
Profile Image for Meredith.
4,350 reviews75 followers
February 2, 2026
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.
Profile Image for Lynn  Davidson.
8,378 reviews38 followers
August 14, 2025
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.
Profile Image for Carole.
1,650 reviews
May 26, 2017
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.
Profile Image for Matthew.
2,892 reviews52 followers
May 28, 2017
This is a simple, rhyming counting book about pigs that want potatoes. It might be a good primary grade read. Simple and enjoyable.
157 reviews1 follower
November 13, 2018
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.
Profile Image for Lex.
296 reviews4 followers
February 23, 2019
Another favorite around our house; the kids always beg me to te-read it! :)
Profile Image for Christine Grant.
1,951 reviews10 followers
October 1, 2019
Countdown to Kindergarten: Letter P.

Picks help Mama make potatoes. More pigs join for dinner as the story progresses. Lots of "p" words.
Profile Image for Beth Bauman.
797 reviews40 followers
June 10, 2023
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.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,082 reviews4 followers
June 10, 2025
A lot of alliteration. Perpetually pleasing.
Profile Image for Jessica.
5,319 reviews5 followers
June 24, 2025
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.
55 reviews1 follower
July 19, 2016
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!





31 reviews
January 21, 2015
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.
Profile Image for Lynn Plourde.
Author 69 books152 followers
December 17, 2014
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.
Profile Image for Heidi-Marie.
3,855 reviews89 followers
November 23, 2016
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.
118 reviews
September 15, 2011
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.
22 reviews
January 29, 2012
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.
40 reviews1 follower
March 20, 2016
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.
Profile Image for Danette.
3,001 reviews13 followers
August 29, 2024
3/27/17 - Read with Naomi & Julia
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9/18/23 Read with Charlotte
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8/28/24 Read with Charlotte
Profile Image for Jeff Irwin.
1 review
December 10, 2007
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.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
1,049 reviews
October 4, 2008
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.
Profile Image for Stephanie .
704 reviews2 followers
May 26, 2010
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. :)
Profile Image for Janet.
3,800 reviews38 followers
February 22, 2012
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.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews