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The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A novel of snow and courage
“Move over Wilbur and Babe, there’s a new pig in town.” — School Library Journal (starred review) Flora’s a die-hard dreamer. She’s never left the farm, but she knows she was born for adventure. She’s determined to become a sled pig! A harrowing voyage to Antarctica, a bacon-loving cook, and a shipwreck in deadly conditions stand between Flora and her dream. What will happen to Flora, whose companions see her as more of a meal than an adventurer? As the ship’s captain says, you never know where brains and talent will come from. They just may come from this brave pig.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 330 reviews
March 30, 2013
At the end of the day Charlotte's Web is the better book and will always be the better book for reasons any grad student would love to write an 80 page paper on, explaining them to you.
However, put the characters of Wilbur and Flora snot to snot, and, hooves down, Flora will come out on top. Every time.
Wilbur cries. And whines. And bosses and bullies and demands and gives up easily and overall just expects everything to be handed to him, with no effort on his part.
Flora explores. And politely asks questions. And makes friends. And helps others and wants to be part of the team and is curious and trains herself to be strong and practices and is unwilling to ever, ever give up. And is unafraid to dance in celebration when her efforts pay off.
Seriously – no contest.
March 12, 2014
I think...Chris Kurtz should thank his illustrator dearly. The cover of this book is so ridiculously, irresistibly cute that, coupled with its title/concept, I was drawn like a moth to a flame. And upon reflection, I can see how it would be hard to make a novel in the South Pole exciting, because there is not a whole lot going on down there. No potential drama with polar bears, no Inuit, no encroaching -winter-as-summer-fades type problems (because winter never leaves), so it's down to a pig and some snow and tales of friendship. So we relied upon shipboard rats, which was pretty boring, and the threat of getting eaten, which was sort of horrifying. The people who wrote that the book spent way too much time on rats were right, and this was a very long book with precious little action. Credit where credit is due, my kids seemed to like this book. Gillie especially seemed very taken with it, and both of them have logged plenty of hours in the last couple weeks pretending to be sled pigs in Antarctica. But as a shared experience, there is not a lot in this for the parents, and I was bored to tears. It has some good messages, like Don't Give Up! and Dream Big! and You Can Change Your Destiny!, but not a whole lot of entertainment value to sweeten the pie. Also, I feel like it would not have killed him to throw in some penguins for me.
September 30, 2013
Review originally posted on Literaritea
This book came out on my birthday this year (January 8) along with titles such as Hokey Pokey, Navigating Early, and The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brockett. Despite the "potential Newbery buzz" for books like Hokey Pokey and Navigating Early (both were on the early "to read" list at Heavy Medal, for instance), my favorite of this group is The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage.
So, why do I like this little chapter book so much? A longheld love affair with Charlotte's Web making me predisposed to like any pig chapter book? A general fondness for talking animal stories? A son who loves all things "pig"? Those are all reasons that helped me pick up this title off the "new" shelf at the library earlier this year. But those are not the reasons that make me like this book better than others I've read this year.
The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage is well written. Pure and simple. Characterization is top notch. We first meet Flora as a piglet who dreams of life beyond the pigpen, befriending the barnyard cat (Luna) in hopes of finding out "stuff." One day: escape! And Flora meets Oscar, a lead sled dog. Henceforward, after being returned to the pigpen, Flora dreams not just of exploration but of joining the sled dog team. After all, she has courage, pluck, strength, a stout heart. What more could you ask for in a sled dog team member?
One day, Flora is taken, along with Oscar and a number of other dogs, on board a ship bound for an Antarctic expedition. The reader will pick up on clues that go over Flora's head: her destiny is clearly for the crew's plates. She and her newest cat friend, Sophia, team up in the ship's hold to conquer the myriad rats, and Flora works hard to build up her strength in preparation for her anticipated sled dog/pig role.
Catastrophe strikes the ship, Flora's stout heart and strong legs help save the day, and she becomes essential to the team's survival. Flora forms an unlikely team with old Oscar, prickly Sophia, and the boy Aleric to help save the day in a heartwarming ending that is not at all saccharine.
The best chapter books for the third-fifth grade crowd feature great friendships, often between unlikely characters. You will find that in spades in this delightful book. Flora seeks adventure and finds it beyond her wildest dreams. Her courage is tremendous. Sophia's begrudging acceptance of the role of team player is well done. The scary and tense situations are just the right level for the target age group. As bizarre as the plot line is, it somehow works: we're rooting for a pig and a cat in the Antarctic and we know they will make it.
This book works on so many levels: plot, characterization, "issues" (survival, friendship, teamwork, etc.), setting (from the farm to the boat to the Antarctic). Illustrations are quirky and effective. But it also works on a sentence level: the text is excellent. A well constructed text can be read aloud easily and to great effect; Kurtz gives us that here. In fact, while this book will delight strong third and fourth grade readers (and younger), I think it's real gift will be as a read aloud so that a group can cheer on Flora together. She would like that; she's a friendly type and a real team player.
This book came out on my birthday this year (January 8) along with titles such as Hokey Pokey, Navigating Early, and The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brockett. Despite the "potential Newbery buzz" for books like Hokey Pokey and Navigating Early (both were on the early "to read" list at Heavy Medal, for instance), my favorite of this group is The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage.
So, why do I like this little chapter book so much? A longheld love affair with Charlotte's Web making me predisposed to like any pig chapter book? A general fondness for talking animal stories? A son who loves all things "pig"? Those are all reasons that helped me pick up this title off the "new" shelf at the library earlier this year. But those are not the reasons that make me like this book better than others I've read this year.
The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage is well written. Pure and simple. Characterization is top notch. We first meet Flora as a piglet who dreams of life beyond the pigpen, befriending the barnyard cat (Luna) in hopes of finding out "stuff." One day: escape! And Flora meets Oscar, a lead sled dog. Henceforward, after being returned to the pigpen, Flora dreams not just of exploration but of joining the sled dog team. After all, she has courage, pluck, strength, a stout heart. What more could you ask for in a sled dog team member?
One day, Flora is taken, along with Oscar and a number of other dogs, on board a ship bound for an Antarctic expedition. The reader will pick up on clues that go over Flora's head: her destiny is clearly for the crew's plates. She and her newest cat friend, Sophia, team up in the ship's hold to conquer the myriad rats, and Flora works hard to build up her strength in preparation for her anticipated sled dog/pig role.
Catastrophe strikes the ship, Flora's stout heart and strong legs help save the day, and she becomes essential to the team's survival. Flora forms an unlikely team with old Oscar, prickly Sophia, and the boy Aleric to help save the day in a heartwarming ending that is not at all saccharine.
The best chapter books for the third-fifth grade crowd feature great friendships, often between unlikely characters. You will find that in spades in this delightful book. Flora seeks adventure and finds it beyond her wildest dreams. Her courage is tremendous. Sophia's begrudging acceptance of the role of team player is well done. The scary and tense situations are just the right level for the target age group. As bizarre as the plot line is, it somehow works: we're rooting for a pig and a cat in the Antarctic and we know they will make it.
This book works on so many levels: plot, characterization, "issues" (survival, friendship, teamwork, etc.), setting (from the farm to the boat to the Antarctic). Illustrations are quirky and effective. But it also works on a sentence level: the text is excellent. A well constructed text can be read aloud easily and to great effect; Kurtz gives us that here. In fact, while this book will delight strong third and fourth grade readers (and younger), I think it's real gift will be as a read aloud so that a group can cheer on Flora together. She would like that; she's a friendly type and a real team player.
April 11, 2016
From the very start, I was impressed by the narrative voice the author established. Flora, the main character, is a pig. For the first quarter of the book, she’s stuck in a pig pen. Yet, it works! It does not drag at all because Flora’s enthusiasm and zest are extremely engaging. There’s not much going on in a pig pen, but Flora possesses all the curiosity of a young child and she engages with the outside as much as possible from within the very small confines of her world.
Chris Kurtz conveys all this with fantastic writing. Nothing goes to waste. He weaves a perfect balance of images, thoughts and actions. Otherwise, how could it work? Other reviewers have noted that this is a homage to Charlotte's Web and I suppose that’s true, but it is an extremely successful one. Kurtz manages to portray his animals as animals. Much of what happens, if you were to watch the scenes, coexists with our observational knowledge of these animals - they could easily just be pigs, cats and dogs doing what pigs, cats and dogs do, yet they are characters who understand English and speak with each other while the humans in the story are mostly clueless about it. Kurtz really nailed it. The animals' adventure takes place simultaneously with the humans, but it is distinct too, theirs. It gave the story a verisimilitude because the animals were not just cardboard stand-ins for people.
Flora gets her wish for adventure and ends up on a ship going to the South Pole. She does not get the adventure she expects. On the way, she is locked up in the hold of the ship. When they arrive, well, circumstances are dire and the South Pole is a huge place that is not necessarily more stimulating, in many ways, than a pig pen. Also, she is so focused on adventure, she never considers the humans' reasons for bringing her along.
There are some inconsistencies here and there, but I was surprised to see that they overwhelmed some readers because they did not blunt my experience of this story at all, probably because the themes are heart-breaking, wonderful and classic: the importance of friendship/companionship and the necessity and pain of loss when striking out on your own.
I read this to my daughter. We loved it.
Chris Kurtz conveys all this with fantastic writing. Nothing goes to waste. He weaves a perfect balance of images, thoughts and actions. Otherwise, how could it work? Other reviewers have noted that this is a homage to Charlotte's Web and I suppose that’s true, but it is an extremely successful one. Kurtz manages to portray his animals as animals. Much of what happens, if you were to watch the scenes, coexists with our observational knowledge of these animals - they could easily just be pigs, cats and dogs doing what pigs, cats and dogs do, yet they are characters who understand English and speak with each other while the humans in the story are mostly clueless about it. Kurtz really nailed it. The animals' adventure takes place simultaneously with the humans, but it is distinct too, theirs. It gave the story a verisimilitude because the animals were not just cardboard stand-ins for people.
Flora gets her wish for adventure and ends up on a ship going to the South Pole. She does not get the adventure she expects. On the way, she is locked up in the hold of the ship. When they arrive, well, circumstances are dire and the South Pole is a huge place that is not necessarily more stimulating, in many ways, than a pig pen. Also, she is so focused on adventure, she never considers the humans' reasons for bringing her along.
There are some inconsistencies here and there, but I was surprised to see that they overwhelmed some readers because they did not blunt my experience of this story at all, probably because the themes are heart-breaking, wonderful and classic: the importance of friendship/companionship and the necessity and pain of loss when striking out on your own.
I read this to my daughter. We loved it.
June 5, 2013
I was relieved when I finished this. I didn't find that I cared about any of the characters. Despite the title, which lead me to believe there would lots of adventure, it was not particularly exciting. Several long and dull chapters of the book are devoted to how the pig and a cat kill rats aboard ship.
But what really irritated me was just how dumb Flora was. It took her over half the book to realize that she was being brought along as food. And even then, she only figured it out because she was directly told. It's hard to put your faith in a main character who is that ignorant to the ways of the world.
But what really irritated me was just how dumb Flora was. It took her over half the book to realize that she was being brought along as food. And even then, she only figured it out because she was directly told. It's hard to put your faith in a main character who is that ignorant to the ways of the world.
January 8, 2013
Children's books are filled with memorable pig characters. Classics such as Freddie the Detective, Charlotte's friend Wilbur, and Babe the sheep-pig have been joined in more recent years by characters such as Poppleton, Mercy Watson, and Nanny Piggins. To those wonderful porcines we must add a new member: Flora the sled-pig.
What animal lover, young or old, could resist a book with the unlikely title: The Adventures of a South Pole Pig? How on earth would a pig wind up in the Antarctic, we wonder? Well, readers, never fear, author Chris Kurtz weaves indomitable piglet Flora into a charming South Pole adventure story filled with slops, friendship, danger, and humor.
Flora, a piglet on a farm that raises sled dogs, wants nothing more than to explore beyond the limits of the pigpen she shares with her mother and siblings. When she briefly escapes and has a chance to meet the dogs training at pulling sleds, she wants to join their pack, and soon is on the way to the South Pole with a bunch of dogs. While she thinks she has a special mission to help the sled dogs, the reader quickly suspects that the cook has other plans for her (bacon, anyone?). But when an iceberg hits their ship in the South Pole, it's the courageous Flora who saves the Captain's life. Few of her shipmates survive, and soon it's Flora who has the chance of a lifetime to prove her mettle as a brave and irreplaceable member of the pack. Will she succeed in helping to rescue her shipmates?
This story would make a terrific read-aloud for a classroom or family, as well as a novel that children 8-12 could read easily on their own. The novel has many appealing characters, among them a somewhat haughty cat, Sophia, who needs Flora's help to catch rats, a wise lead dog, Oscar, and a courageous young cabin boy, Aleric. The novel is enhanced with adorable black and white illustrations by Jennifer Black Reinhardt. Highly recommended!
What animal lover, young or old, could resist a book with the unlikely title: The Adventures of a South Pole Pig? How on earth would a pig wind up in the Antarctic, we wonder? Well, readers, never fear, author Chris Kurtz weaves indomitable piglet Flora into a charming South Pole adventure story filled with slops, friendship, danger, and humor.
Flora, a piglet on a farm that raises sled dogs, wants nothing more than to explore beyond the limits of the pigpen she shares with her mother and siblings. When she briefly escapes and has a chance to meet the dogs training at pulling sleds, she wants to join their pack, and soon is on the way to the South Pole with a bunch of dogs. While she thinks she has a special mission to help the sled dogs, the reader quickly suspects that the cook has other plans for her (bacon, anyone?). But when an iceberg hits their ship in the South Pole, it's the courageous Flora who saves the Captain's life. Few of her shipmates survive, and soon it's Flora who has the chance of a lifetime to prove her mettle as a brave and irreplaceable member of the pack. Will she succeed in helping to rescue her shipmates?
This story would make a terrific read-aloud for a classroom or family, as well as a novel that children 8-12 could read easily on their own. The novel has many appealing characters, among them a somewhat haughty cat, Sophia, who needs Flora's help to catch rats, a wise lead dog, Oscar, and a courageous young cabin boy, Aleric. The novel is enhanced with adorable black and white illustrations by Jennifer Black Reinhardt. Highly recommended!
January 21, 2023
My kids really enjoyed this! “11 million stars!” Which led to a good discussion about how they can enjoy a book but not everyone will. And it’s ok to like a book someone else doesn’t.
I thought this book was just OK. It’s a cute story about a pig that has higher aspirations for adventure than just living on a farm. BUT I thought it was too long (looking at you middle section about hunting rats on a ship!) and I had to suspend my disbelief just a little too much. The circumstances of this story are actually pretty dire and here we are with a cute pig who wants to pull a sled. I wanted more information about the shipwreck 😂
My favorite character was Oscar the sled dog. He just wanted to do a good job and eventually he had to overcome his pride and accept help. I thought it was a great secondary storyline.
My kids can read this again on their own if they like, but once was good enough for me.
I thought this book was just OK. It’s a cute story about a pig that has higher aspirations for adventure than just living on a farm. BUT I thought it was too long (looking at you middle section about hunting rats on a ship!) and I had to suspend my disbelief just a little too much. The circumstances of this story are actually pretty dire and here we are with a cute pig who wants to pull a sled. I wanted more information about the shipwreck 😂
My favorite character was Oscar the sled dog. He just wanted to do a good job and eventually he had to overcome his pride and accept help. I thought it was a great secondary storyline.
My kids can read this again on their own if they like, but once was good enough for me.
June 14, 2021
All three of my kids *loved* this book (based on their begging for "just one more chapter," they'd probably give it four or five stars). I think if they were much older, it probably wouldn't have held as much appeal, but they are deep into animal-centric stories and these characters were so much fun. We loved the unlikely friendships in the book and some of the humorous events. I heard this compared to "Charlotte's Web," and I think Flora is a much better pig than Wilbur (who sometimes annoys me with his "woe is me" attitude). Her courage and commitment to her friends made her a sweet and relatable character we were all rooting for, but I think E. B. White does a much better job of incorporating the natural world into his writing. The South Pole (and Antarctica and the ocean) did not feature nearly as much as I would've loved, and it seemed like a missed opportunity.
December 15, 2022
This may have been one of the first books I have read with my kids where they have had the experience of knowing something about a character in a book that the character does not yet realize.
Pigs from farms are generally raised to be eaten. Flora doesn’t know this, and her friends make a point long into the story to delicately avoid the topic. Flora dreams of a life of adventure as a sled dog. She thinks that is why she’s been taken on a ship to Antarctica, and she works to train herself in preparation for that day. She takes courageous action because that is who she imagines herself to be.
My boys enjoyed the unlikely friendships that formed in trials. It was slightly annoying to me how long Flora remained unaware of the real danger she was in, but my boys regularly asked for another chapter of this book.
Pigs from farms are generally raised to be eaten. Flora doesn’t know this, and her friends make a point long into the story to delicately avoid the topic. Flora dreams of a life of adventure as a sled dog. She thinks that is why she’s been taken on a ship to Antarctica, and she works to train herself in preparation for that day. She takes courageous action because that is who she imagines herself to be.
My boys enjoyed the unlikely friendships that formed in trials. It was slightly annoying to me how long Flora remained unaware of the real danger she was in, but my boys regularly asked for another chapter of this book.
May 15, 2016
Cute story about a pig who just wants to have adventures. There were a lot of cute characters that helped her along the way. The story seemed to meander at times and I couldn't quite tell what direction it was going in. Overall though, a good story.
January 6, 2022
Babe the Pig meets Balto in this delightful Antarctic adventure. My daughter read this and loved it so much she put it on my nightstand. Highly recommend for animal loving kiddos.
January 9, 2023
What a fun family read aloud! Highly recommend as not just the kiddos would exclaim “next chapter!” when finishing one, but so did I! :)
April 26, 2023
Some pretty intense material for a children’s book, but my daughter and I greatly enjoyed it. She was sneaky and even finished it ahead of me without me knowing!
January 12, 2022
Just so sweet. First chapter read aloud that S actually paid attention to the whole time.
December 14, 2023
Eat your heart out, Babe. There’s a new piggy in town, and she’s ready for adventure. Cutesy, funny, and heartwarming, Adventures of a South Pole Pig is a book that deserves a wider readership.
December 11, 2014
This reminded me a lot of Charlotte's Web...what is a pigs purpose? But I liked that it was Flora, the pig, making things different for herself rather than another creature. I also enjoyed how it was partially set in Antarctica :)
February 3, 2014
One Sentence Review: Sort of the dark side of Babe and Charlotte's Web, but with an active (and female!) protagonist who does quite a bit to save her own life.
March 9, 2023
One School, One Book read aloud for my daughter’s elementary. Both she and I found it underwhelming.
September 10, 2019
Flora is born a pig and destined for many pig things. Her siblings are pigs, she lives in a pig pen, and her mother is a pig. They all have simple pig dreams of food, or at least they all do except for Flora.
Flora wants to do more, see more, and become more than simply a pig. She enjoys talks with dogs, who inform her of their jobs, enjoys chats with cats who tell her nine lives are just a state of mind. Flora, however, can't seem to get out, until one day people come for her. . .
There was some darker areas of this book, animals killed, the mention of how ice and cold effects the body(freezing to death, drowning in it, etc), and some other darker angles, but it was easy to gloss over if you don't think about how the protagonist is basically walking bacon to everyone around her.
This was a tale that made me think of Gordy or Babe. We have a pig who is seen as food or dismissed by humans grow to become more than just a pig and do more than pig things. If you like either of the before mentioned works, you'll enjoy South Pole Pig.
I'd have included Charlotte's Web as it's obviously the most pig book people think about, but Wilbur was a whiny pig at the end of the day. For all Charlotte's Web brought us, it never brought me enjoying a pig's story, and this too, is to be said for Babe in many ways. I could not handle either pig being bullying, pushy, demanding, or expecting things given to them. Taking a page from someone else's review here, I will admit Flora comes out on top to any other pig in written material I've seen as she's genuinely a good character. She doesn't push and shove, she doesn't run in blind. She questions, she asks, she learns. She has a dream but also has friends.
Flora has heart, and doesn't give up, like a true pig.
Flora wants to do more, see more, and become more than simply a pig. She enjoys talks with dogs, who inform her of their jobs, enjoys chats with cats who tell her nine lives are just a state of mind. Flora, however, can't seem to get out, until one day people come for her. . .
There was some darker areas of this book, animals killed, the mention of how ice and cold effects the body(freezing to death, drowning in it, etc), and some other darker angles, but it was easy to gloss over if you don't think about how the protagonist is basically walking bacon to everyone around her.
This was a tale that made me think of Gordy or Babe. We have a pig who is seen as food or dismissed by humans grow to become more than just a pig and do more than pig things. If you like either of the before mentioned works, you'll enjoy South Pole Pig.
I'd have included Charlotte's Web as it's obviously the most pig book people think about, but Wilbur was a whiny pig at the end of the day. For all Charlotte's Web brought us, it never brought me enjoying a pig's story, and this too, is to be said for Babe in many ways. I could not handle either pig being bullying, pushy, demanding, or expecting things given to them. Taking a page from someone else's review here, I will admit Flora comes out on top to any other pig in written material I've seen as she's genuinely a good character. She doesn't push and shove, she doesn't run in blind. She questions, she asks, she learns. She has a dream but also has friends.
Flora has heart, and doesn't give up, like a true pig.
October 14, 2021
Flora is a pig who is curious and dreams of adventures. When she is taken aboard a ship bound for Antarctica for an exploring expedition, her life will change in ways she could not imagine.
This was a really fun book. My 8yo and I read it aloud together and we both enjoyed it. I appreciated the message of persistence and kindness and while there were some intense parts, it wasn't too bad.
This was a really fun book. My 8yo and I read it aloud together and we both enjoyed it. I appreciated the message of persistence and kindness and while there were some intense parts, it wasn't too bad.
November 29, 2020
Another one of those I'd-like-to-strangle-every-character books, and the vocab wasn't even any fun to define.
March 1, 2021
Enjoyable adventure story; my kids were very engaged by it.
September 15, 2021
A fun read aloud for my 10-, 9-, 7- and 4-year-olds. Had the oldest laughing a few times, and kept the youngest fairly engaged as well. Great story where the underdog (underpig?) main character faces adversity, a little despair, and then ultimately overcomes through her refusal to give up.
January 3, 2023
Flora, Oscar, and Sofia make quite the team! I enjoyed these characters. I love an underdog story! Great ties to Charlotte's Web.
April 17, 2025
Quite the adventure for a farm pig! *homeschool read
January 26, 2018
This book was pretty cute. As a pig lover, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
January 15, 2024
I read this book to my 6yo & 3yo and they LOVED it! I thought it might be a little long for us, but they were so invested, right from the beginning! I thought it was just overall super cute an wholesome, and definitely recommend it!
September 1, 2018
This is a story of a pig who is tricked into getting on a boat and who is forced to fight rats to the death. Also, people keep threatening to eat her. Eventually,
Lots of fun for kids!
Lots of fun for kids!
April 14, 2019
Super cute story of overcoming weaknesses and not giving up! Flora was a fun and memorable protagonist, and I’m sure we’ll be reminding each other to “do things the pig way.” 😉
August 4, 2017
Vish s first chapter book ! quite an inspiring story !
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