King Pig

by Nick Bland

King Pig can make the sheep do anything he pleases... But can he make them like him?

Genres: Picture Books, High Fantasy, Fantasy, Childrens, Animals, Friendship, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Nick Bland was born in the Yarra Valley of Australia, in 1973. He was the son of an artist and a primary school teacher, and spent his early years on the farm where his parents lived. At age six, he moved with his family to 'the bush'. He wanted to be a cartoonist and a writer from a very young age. In 1996, he took a job at a book store, and decided to write and illustrate children's books. His first book, "A Monster Wrote Me a Letter" was published in Australia in 2005. He currently lives in Darwin, Australia and works full time as an author illustrator.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Pig rules his kingdom and has many sheep subjects. While they accept his rule, they do not seem to like him. Baffled, King Pig does all he can to impress his subjects, but they are still less than willing to give him the time of day. Worried, he pines and loses sleep over the matter, until a soluti0n pops into his mind, leaving him slaving all night long to come up with a masterful answer for his sheep. While it may not be perfect, it’s a start! Neo pulled this one out and asked if I would read it to him. He wondered about what would make a pig kingly, fascinated by what was revealed in this piece. While he will never be a king, Neo’s surely a prince to many, including his Goodreads followers.

[Julianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was cute and had some nice pictures, but the plot was a little weird. It is a good book though to teach the importance of how to treat your friends the right way. Cute, but still a little weird...

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't find the story very complicated.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was so cute and I really liked the illustrations. The thing that I liked the best about this little novel was the fact that the story redeems itself, and the main character changes his whole stand point.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me the story was one of a bully not understanding the way he is affecting others, or why they might not like him. Could open up some interesting discussion.

[Taun · Rating 3 out of 5]

King Pig has it all... why then do his sheep subjects seem to dislike him so? Perhaps no one can hear him? He should SHOUT. Perhaps they don't see him? He should get their attention (beware of flying eggs). Perhaps he simply isn't fancy enough to earn their friendship? He should order brand new clothing. He is, after all, the KING. He can make the sheep do anything he wants. Except for like him, that is...

A simplistic cautionary tale of how one should treat others. The beginning and middle areas of the story are well laid out, and easy for a reader/listener to grasp, the ending does drop off rather unexpectedly, however.

The illustrations are cute, the messages of mutual respect and kindness unmistakable, making this a quick and and enjoyable bedtime read for our weekly Bedtime Stories gathering.

2.5 stars

[Necy Calamba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever asked yourself, what do you have to do for people to like you? In the story, King Pig wanted the sheep to adore him. He made the sheep do everything he pleases, thinking that this would make the sheep notice him. King Pig eventually realized that he did not recognize the feelings of the sheep and his actions were unpleasant towards them. The book uses entertaining words and funny illustrations to catch children's attention and present the lesson in a meaningful way. It has appealing expressions of the characters which children would like. The simple plot of the book teaches the value of treating others the right way.

[Ellice · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Pig doesn’t understand why none of his sheep subjects dislike him—but it never occurs to him that this may be because he’s not very nice to them. In the end he tries to make amends—but will it be enough? The illustrations are chock-full of fun details that flesh out the simple text in this picture book.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grandie gave this book to Jack for his birthday. We read it tonight before bed. He liked the pig, because he likes pigs, but he only half paid attention to the book. I had to pull out a super dramatic voice to get him interested.

[Greta Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book about doing the right thing

[Joy Keil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute. Not my favourite from this author, but ok. The kids liked it. The art was fun.

[Chinook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book inspired a great discussion with Kait about being kind and being bossy and how it’s important to think of others. Plus the illustrations were very silly and fun.

[Freddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This King Pig learns the hard way that servitude ≠ love. As with all Nick Bland's work, it's fabulous.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute illustrations- weird story. Not sure who this pitched too - was a bit dark for mr. 5.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok illustrations in a story about a king who has no clue about the needs of his subjects. He doesn’t understand why they don’t like him. He starts to come around in the end.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Pig is cute for children around the ages of 5 or 6 because they would understand the humor of this book. The tale gets sarcastic and the reader must understand the concepts told by the pictures, not necessarily the story. The illustrations on this book are partially mystical but full of a lot of detail that helps the reader understand the story better.

The story is easy to read and easy to understand with the picture's explanation. At the end, it may have been better to explain in the text what the pig actually did to win back the sheep's adoration.

While the pictures go a long way in filling in the holes to the story, the text itself could have been more telling.

Either way, great for a group of children who understand humor and have learned how to grasp concepts such as being too bossy, learning how to be nice, and understanding the why behind actions.

[Chelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Pig doesn’t know why the sheep do not like him, even though he tries his best. The sheep do not smile, even though he tries to make them laugh. They never listen to him. So, one night, King Pig invited the sheep into his warm castle. They were dyed different colours and shaved to make King Pig fancier clothes. But still, the sheep did not like King Pig – even when he was wearing fancier clothes! How can he make them like him?

Nick Bland has done it again with King Pig. Enclosed in these pages is a story about popularity. King Pig is oblivious that he is making the sheep unhappy. He treats them as slaves, rather than people. Illustrations are simple and beautiful. This story has to be one of the best storybooks that I’ve read all year. A must read for preschool storytime.

[Woody Calhoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an...interesting read to say the least. The story of King Pig is not a very difficult read (and that's a good thing considering the target audience) and, while it has a good lesson to be taught, the story is very typical of a children's book and there's not anything really unique or special. However, this only applies to the story itself. The art in the book is very lively and captures each blurb of text very well. The art brings every character to life in vibrant ways and the art of the King Pig as he tries to earn the admiration of his people is both entertaining and well done.

Overall, while I wouldn't really praise this book for its story, I found the art to be fantastic and would still recommend it for children to read on that merit alone.

[Whole And · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh! There are so many important moral messages in this book!

The King Pig's problem is that he can't get anyone to like him and can't figure out why. Eventually he learns how to create friendships through a very different approach then his previous attempts.

An excellent source to demonstrate how we treat one another in relationships matters more than our fancy clothes or our position in life.

A meaningful tale indeed, highly recommend this for lessons in leadership, appreciation for one another, speaking up when necessary, relationship over materials and the humility required when we want to change.

Deeper messages can be drawn out every time the book is read.

Bravo and thank you, Nick Bland.

[Staci Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book mainly because of the message it sends to readers. I can see this book being extremely helpful in elementary students when they are being taught about kindness. The underlying message of this book is it takes sincerity to be nice. I take this to mean, you cannot do something nice and gain a reward for yourself. In order to be selfless you need to completely forget about yourself and take into account someone else. The King thought he was doing them a favor by making himself look better but it was only causing more work for the sheep. This is a simple lesson that is taught over and over again throughout a child's life. Therefore, this book is a great tool and aid to help re-teach that principle.

[Kelsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I found the King Pig to be a very enjoyable children's book to read! I thought that the illustrations were awesome- the color choices were both fun, and creative, and went well with the story. I thought that it was a very creative story line and it was unique- I have not ready something similar to it before. I thought that it had great humor and kept the reader engaged in the story. I think that children would really enjoy this story- I would guess that 1st and 2nd graders would really enjoy it. I think that this book included all good things and I would recommend it!

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The text is simple, the pictures show a lot of emotion while also being surreal enough to be fun. The ending is fantastic...could easily have watered it down into oversweetened happy, happy cliche and the author skilfully avoided that to retain a critical edge (in a child-accessible way.

This book looks at power and about relationships. It could be relevant to the way children treat each other OR it could be about social class and exploitation. It makes some connections but leaves some up to the reader.

Definately worth a read!

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can just imagine reading this story to a group of kids. The king's pride is so obvious that young children will be able to see why he was so disliked by all of the sheep in his kingdom. I love the use of illustrations to get the point across. I especially love the illustration with the little sheep with no wool (he has a big beanie on). It just tugs at my heartstrings. The end isn't a completely happy one where the sheep all learn to love the king, but I love that the king finally starts trying. Children can learn a lot from this story about making friends.

[Tatelyn Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

In class today we did a different activity of reading to each other. Something that I really liked about reading to each other and reading this book, was how much i enjoyed both. When someone else is reading to you, I got to see the book by not just reading the words. This book is so cute. The pig is the over all ruler over the sheep but he doesn't understand why no one likes them. So he keeps trying to do things to make himself better hoping they would like him more. but in the end he realizes when he focuses on others they start to like him a little bit more.

[Get Ahead Kids · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Pig makes the sheep in his Kingdom do whatever he tells them. He shouts at them, throws eggs at them and uses them as servants, but he can't understand why they don't like him! One day, when King Pig is at his wits end over the sheep not liking him, one of the sheep suggests that King Pig should be nicer to the sheep!

This book is presented in a light-hearted manner, but points out the importance of being nice to others, and that what one person may think is okay, others may not.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Pig demonstrates a very important lesson, niceness is a learned quality. His self-centred point of view makes him incapable of noticing the misery of others, and it is only when it is pointed out to him that he figures it out. In typical Nick Bland style, the illustrations are very funny; many of the characters do very silly actions, and poses.

[Lynnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great read for children. Teachers can read aloud this book to children who are struggling to get along with each other. IF teachers want to incorporate a lesson about being nice to one another, this book is great. It is about a pig who tries to gain friends in all of the wrong ways. Eventually he learns to be nice and gets some friends.

[Matthew Triplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great to have in the classroom it teaches that kindness is the Key. The king pig doesn't know why the sheep doesn't like him. he does everything to make them like him but what he does isn't nice at all. At the end he starts to figure it out and the sheep begins to like him. This book is the best to teach students to think of others before yourself.

-Matthew Tripeltt

[Jacinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of nick bland's book, but this is not one of my favourites. I find the story a little dark and while there is a good point to the story just think that is a little to heavy for little ones. But I don't think young children necessarily need to be taught these harsh learnings at such a young age.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer the bear books that Nick has done, however this is a good story as well. It's a great story about dealing with people and how you treat them, especially if you want them to like you. I am impressed with the end as well, it's not a solid happy ending but the ending is true.