Pigsty

by Mark Teague

A messy room springs to life in this award-winning story from New York Times-bestselling author Mark Teague

Wendell Flutz's room isn't a mess. It's a total pigsty. But Wendell's mother can't get him to clean it up. Wendell doesn't think the mess is so awful. In fact, he doesn't even mind it when one day he discovers a real pig sitting on his bed!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Humor, Fantasy, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Mark Teague has delighted young readers with more than 20 picture books, and he has written many of them himself, including the popular Pigsty, Baby Tamer, and One Halloween Night. He is also the illustrator of Cynthia Rylant's beloved Poppleton series for beginning readers and the best-selling books by Jane Yolen, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon.

Mark Teague's life changed when he moved from San Diego to New York City and he planted the seed for his first picture book, The Trouble with the Johnsons. Each of Teague's books start as "notebooks full of sketches and scribbles, strange little drawings and phrases that suddenly come together," Teague explains. And although he had no formal writing training, his endless imagination and understanding nature gives him a permanent place in the hearts of everyone.

Mark and his wife live in Coxsackie, New York, with their young daughter Lily, who has a great time watching her dad paint the pictures in his books.

Reviews

[Sarah Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Teague is an all time favorite

[Holly Thompson-Small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to my kindergarteners and they loved it. The pigs are great characters and the message is good when teaching how to clean up and why it is important. Great to read when you are setting practices in the classroom or needing to remind students of cleaning up expectations.

[Kristen Dutkiewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

One little boy’s room is such a “pigsty” that pigs feel at home living there with him!
Love the illustrations.

[Jenna Langel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of Murphy’s favorites — we’ve read this countless times!

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Dobby Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendell's room became pigsty. The more he messed up, the more pigs came. Finally this boy started to clean his room. And as the proverb, many hooves make things light, pig friends help him clean up. They sweeped, scourged, and the room was no more pigsty. Then pigs go home. But sometimes like playing monopoly his room became crazy. I also had this experience, except that real pigs appeared in my room. My dad named my room pigsty. I didn't clean a while. But i lost something, and I couldnt live in chaos. I began to clean it.

This illustration is friendly and makes me feel like being myself at home. I like the description of pigs in this book. Each page shows pigs' various posture, which is funny and friendly.

[Nicholas Linsk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a young boy who has a very dirty room. His mother tries to make him clean it, but the young boy is lazy and does not want to clean it. Then all of a sudden pigs start appearing and help make it messier until finally the boy decides enough is enough and decides to clean his room. The pigs help clean his room and then leave because they claim it is to clean for them. The story was funny and entertaining as well. The author did a great job on the illustrations. He paid very close attention to the tiny details. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

What starts out as a thinly veiled morality tale or a straightforward play on words ends as a kid-pleasing tale (no pun intended) full of ridiculous details and silliness. Mark Teague's classic illustration style does not disappoint. His characters are caricatures and his scenes are filled with exaggerated comedy. Great for silly kids, messy kids, and those teased about their own pigsties

[XIS Grade 3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the animals of the story. I liked the humor. (May)
I liked that the pigs became Wendell's friends. (Glenn -Hugo)
I liked how messy his room looked. (Isabelle)
I liked that this story had many interesting words. (Nunu)

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like that in most of Teague’s books Snort City and Pumpkinville are referenced. I enjoy the continuity. A pleasant story, colorful illustrations. Nothing incredible or life changing, but a good lesson.

[Jessica Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantasy picture book. There are pigs that only Wendell can see living in his pigsty of a room. Every time Wendell's room gets messier another pig shows up. I think children will enjoy this book because they can relate to having a messy room and not wanting to clean it. I only gave this book 4 stars though because I did not like that mother only had one role in the story which was to nag about a dirty room and then later having the boy asking his mom to clean his room. She does not even make an appearance at the end of the book, but the magical pigs do.

Teachers 1-4th could use this book in class to demonstrate what type of books are fantasy. In this book the animals take on human traits. For example, the pigs eat snacks using their hooves in Wendell's bed, jump on his bed, hog the blankets (Get it? Hog?), play Monopoly and make phone calls. Every time Wendell's room gets messier another pig shows up, yet mother never seems to notice. Teachers could also use this book to demonstrate how a character can change from the beginning of a story to the end.

I've used this book when teaching R2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. Students ask questions such as "How many total pigs were in his room?" "Why did Wendell's mom not clean his room?" "Where were the pigs sleeping?" "What did the pigs chew up?"

[April Colon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Teague created this impressive story named Pigsty. It is an enjoyable, amusing, and imaginative picture book. It is about a boy named Wendell who has a very messy room and he likes it that way. One afternoon his mother could not take it anymore and aske him to clean his room because it was turning into a pigsty. Wendell decides to go upstairs to start cleaning, but he finds a pig on his bed. He decides it would be more fun to play with his new pig friend than to clean his messy room. The next day, he comes home and finds a second pig in his room, playing games and making more of a mess. Wendell continues to live with the mess day after day, until it becomes too much for him. Pick up this silly story to find what Wendell decides to do in order to solve his problem.

I would give this story four stars. It is funny and entertaining. It is a quick read and would work well with teaching younger students in preschool or kindergarten the days of the week. This story would work well for upper elementary age students on making connections, problem and solution, using ellipses, or sequencing events.

[Ashley Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendell's room is a pigsty, but he doesn't care, he likes it that way. His mom tells him to clean up his room and that he can't live in that pigsty. Wendell starts to clean up and move piles of things to different parts of his room, but actual pigs start to show up. Then, Wendell decides that it isn't so bad living in an actual pigsty with actual pigs. They have fun together. They play all sorts of games and eat all sorts of food. More and more pigs start to show up when the fun starts to get better. Then Wendell starts to notice that his favorite things are getting destroyed, but you'll have to read to the end of the story to find out if he decides to clean up his room or keep it a pigsty!
This would be an amazing book to teach about responsibility, not just about keeping your room clean, but also about keeping the precious items that you find most dear to yourself safe and still valuable. This will also show students that keeping a clean room will help with keeping everything in its place, and that pigs won't show up if they have a pigsty in their room!

[Amanda Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigsty by Mark Teague is a fantastic book! My four-year-old daughter thought it was funny and could easily relate to it. In the story, you follow along as Wendell (main character) is told by his mother to clean his room because it is becoming a pigsty. As the story progresses, Wendell goes from being okay with a messy room and having a pig friend/visitor to feeling a tad overwhelmed by the mess when there is more than one pig. This book would make a great read-aloud as students would make many connections throughout the text. In addition, I am adding this to my Kindergarten classroom line-up for the beginning of the year when students are learning and practicing cleaning up after themselves, especially after our center time. Another teaching idea for older students using this text would be to teach past tense verbs using verbs found in this book.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wendell's room is a complete disaster. When his approaches him and tell him to clean it up, he marches upstairs and finds a pig lying on his bed! He decides that he enjoys the pig's company and opts out of cleaning his room. As the room gets messier and messier, more pigs show up to live in the "pigsty." Will Wendell get frustrated with the pigs and finally decide to clean his room??

This book is pretty silly. Personally, I think it would best be used at the lower elementary level. The only reason I might read it to my fourth graders would be before we do a desk clean-out. Some of their desks are pigsties!

[Michelle Rosales · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this a good picture book for kids that are around 4-5 years old because it has the right amount of images and the book also kinda has a message in the book saying that it does not look good when your room is messy and also how the pigs were hiding and making the room messy the whole time. This book has really good pictures and has a lot on all the pages that the kids might point out. I think that the kids would love and laugh at this book especially since the pigs are making a mess and just laying around doing nothing.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up. 48 of 100 Books to Read in Kindergarten (5 of 10 in "Imagination" category). Would recommend the poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings instead.

[Abby Gallier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for ages 5-9. It is a good story to teach the importance of responsibility, and an especially good read aloud if your child refuses to clean their room. When a boy named Wendell neglects to keep his room clean, his mother warns him that it may turn into a pigsty, and to Wendell's surprise, he finds a pig living in his room! Once three more pigs show up, he decides he can't live this way anymore, and cleans his room until it is spotless.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A child learns the lesson of why they don't want to live in a pigsty once several actual pigs move in. This book is a really fun way to discuss with young readers how to keep one's room clean. I remember reading it when I was little and it still stands up as entertaining and cheeky.

For: fans of pigs; readers looking for a book to discuss tidiness.

Possible red flags: some readers may find the book too anxiety-inducing (adding more and more pigs throughout the book); property damage.

[Justin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigsty was a great book it was very engaging and it felt relatable. The book is about a kids messy room and the crazy things that can happen. I feel like this is a book geared towards 1st-3rd graders because it has pictures, but it also has a lot of words that would best be comprehended by someone a little older. I like the pictures they seem like they'd be interesting to a kid and they'd be engaged.

[Katherinesmail1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Fiction
Grades: PreK-1
My copy of Pigsy by Mark Teague is battered and torn. This is the kind of story that kids will enjoy reading over and over again. I love Teague's lyrical lines and wit. The pigs are charming, and the main character is like every child who struggles to keep their room tidy! I wasn't a huge fan of the illustrations. They are pretty reflective of the time (the book was published in 1994)... but the storyline still makes this a FIVE STAR book for me!

[Terri Zumbahlen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An imaginative story about Wendell who had a room so much like a pig sty that pigs came to live with him. Once some of his things began to get destroyed he decided he wanted clean it up. The pigs helped him clean the room but decided it was too clean for them to stay. Wendell liked his room neat.
The pigs had moved out but came back once in a while. Good lesson on tidiness.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What kid has never had a problem picking up, cleaning up his/her room? How about when pigs move in? How comfortable will you be then? Great story and a good reminder not to have such a messy room. The kids I read to got the message.

[Paige Bjerkaas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pigsty

I chose this book because this book was read to me while I was growing up. I have always loved this book. I have always been a messy person, so I relate to the main character of the book. I really like the illustrations too.

[Luis Fe Domínguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahhh, está sencilla, yo no armaría tanto drama por unos cerdos tan limpios y tan cool como estos de la historia, rabia si me daría que estuviesen mal oliente, sucios y a parte sean escandalosos. No hay mucho que reflexionar al menos que no te gusten los cerdos.

[Sarahs Reads ToKids]

We read this book for National Clean Your Room Day today. This was a fun read for both me and the kids. They only thing they didn't like about the book is that I made them clean their rooms after we read this book.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book with preschoolers, but that isn't really the intended age group, as baseball cards and comic books are not really their thing. Then again, are kids into those these days, whatever their age?
Anyway, the story is fun, if a little preachy.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you create a pigsty the pigs will come! (And it isn't any fun in the end)

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ha.

I think even as a kid, this would not have convinced me to clean my room.

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and a little absurd, with some lovely art. 4/5 stars.