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My Lucky Day
When a delicious-looking piglet knocks on Mr. Fox's door "accidentally," the fox can hardly believe his good luck. It's not every day that dinner just shows up on your doorstep. It must be his lucky day! Or is it?Before Mr. Fox can say grace, the piglet has manipulated him into giving him a fabulously tasty meal, the full spa treatment (with bath and massage), and . . . freedom.
In a funny trickster tale of her own, Kasza keeps readers guessing until the surprise ending when they'll realize it was piglet's lucky day all along.
In a funny trickster tale of her own, Kasza keeps readers guessing until the surprise ending when they'll realize it was piglet's lucky day all along.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
42 people are currently reading
2000 people want to read
About the author
Keiko Kasza
27 books62 followersKeiko was born on a small island in the Inland Sea of Japan. She grew up in a typical Japanese extended family with her parents, two brothers, and grandparents. Uncles, aunts, and cousins also lived nearby. She came to the United States in 1973 to continue her education, and in 1976 she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts from California State University at Northridge.
While working as a graphic designer, Keiko read Leo Lionni’s masterful work, Frederick, and she became interested in picture books. She began experimenting with picture books in her free time. Her first book was published in 1981 in Japan and thereafter she continued to publish in her native language. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew, a 1987 ALA notable book and the winner of the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass Award, was her first work to be published in the United States. She has now published 22 books and her work is translated into 16 languages.
Keiko compares the process of creating a book to acting on stage under the lights: “I become the character that I’m working on at that moment. I pretend that I’m a bird looking for a mother, or a pig trying to impress his girlfriend. When I’m acting, I’m a child myself.” Her ambition is not to create a hundred books but to create one really good book that will be kept on the bookshelves for generations (although a hundred good books would be even better, of course!)
Keiko Kasza lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband, a professor of Japanese politics at Indiana University, and they have two sons.
While working as a graphic designer, Keiko read Leo Lionni’s masterful work, Frederick, and she became interested in picture books. She began experimenting with picture books in her free time. Her first book was published in 1981 in Japan and thereafter she continued to publish in her native language. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew, a 1987 ALA notable book and the winner of the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass Award, was her first work to be published in the United States. She has now published 22 books and her work is translated into 16 languages.
Keiko compares the process of creating a book to acting on stage under the lights: “I become the character that I’m working on at that moment. I pretend that I’m a bird looking for a mother, or a pig trying to impress his girlfriend. When I’m acting, I’m a child myself.” Her ambition is not to create a hundred books but to create one really good book that will be kept on the bookshelves for generations (although a hundred good books would be even better, of course!)
Keiko Kasza lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband, a professor of Japanese politics at Indiana University, and they have two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 407 reviews
August 28, 2021
Kasza writes such entertaining stories. This is mine and my kids favorite. Smart storytelling with that little twist that makes it so much fun.
November 5, 2025
Oh goodness! I got very near the ending before I guessed what was going on, and then the last page was another twist! So funny, for all ages!
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Reread for theme in Children's Books. Love it! Fox is a carnivore, but he's not as clever as a piglet....
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Reread for theme in Children's Books. Love it! Fox is a carnivore, but he's not as clever as a piglet....
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January 31, 2016I'd read this book to my son few times. The most recent read at bedtime, he asked me to read it again two additional times. At preschool they're looking for the sight word "my" and Eli took joy in finding the words he recognized. What Eli enjoyed most was the narrative voices of the characters. I would read with emphasis and he would repeat what I said. The repetitions in the voice of the pig and the fun playfulness and aggression of the Fox lead to an enjoyable read for a parent and child with changing mood and tone. It is also worth while that this book has a complex theme in that the pig is purposely tricking the Fox. The book does not beat you over the head with the lesson that it is dangerous to trick in this way, but Eli and I had a good conversation about how many times something dangerous can be done without serious repercussions. Reading literature like this to children is not only fun and develops reading skills and speaking skills, but it also helps us to learn lessons without having to make other people's mistakes. Seeing the pig trick the Fox is funny to children, but this also opens up the opportunities to talk about risk and reward with children. I'm glad I got the chance to read this with Eli and then we got to discuss what it might mean to "play with fire" more than once.
July 18, 2017
Super cute. My son loved it and I enjoyed reading it to him :)
April 24, 2009
I read this because I adore this author’s book: The Dog Who Cried Wolf, and I also just read A Mother for Choco and really enjoyed that, although it’s not in the same league (for me) of The Dog Who Cried Wolf.
I also liked this book, and it was kind of funny, but I could see some kids finding it very scary too. The story is rather clever I suppose, and it is reminiscent of some traditional fairy tales, but it’s not a book I am wild about.
I also liked this book, and it was kind of funny, but I could see some kids finding it very scary too. The story is rather clever I suppose, and it is reminiscent of some traditional fairy tales, but it’s not a book I am wild about.
July 16, 2015
One of mommy's faves!
July 13, 2024
ظريفة جدا
When a delicious-looking piglet knocks on Mr. Fox's door "accidentally," the fox can hardly believe his good luck. It's not every day that dinner just shows up on your doorstep. It must be his lucky day! Or is it?Before Mr. Fox can say grace, the piglet has manipulated him into giving him a fabulously tasty meal, the full spa treatment (with bath and massage), and . . . freedom. ...
When a delicious-looking piglet knocks on Mr. Fox's door "accidentally," the fox can hardly believe his good luck. It's not every day that dinner just shows up on your doorstep. It must be his lucky day! Or is it?Before Mr. Fox can say grace, the piglet has manipulated him into giving him a fabulously tasty meal, the full spa treatment (with bath and massage), and . . . freedom. ...
September 26, 2011
"When a delicious-looking piglet knocks on Mr. Fox's door "accidentally," the fox can hardly believe his good luck. It's not every day that dinner just shows up on your doorstep. It must be his lucky day! Or is it?
Before Mr. Fox can say grace, the piglet has manipulated him into giving him a fabulously tasty meal, the full spa treatment (with bath and massage), and . . . freedom.
In a funny trickster tale of her own, Kasza keeps readers guessing until the surprise ending when they'll realize it was piglet's lucky day all along."
I really laughed out loud at this children's book. This sweet story of manipulation is so comical. I love that the story has interesting twists that engage the readers. The piglet is so cleaver and sneaky that you fall in love with it right away. I know that in my classroom, the students will love this book.
Before Mr. Fox can say grace, the piglet has manipulated him into giving him a fabulously tasty meal, the full spa treatment (with bath and massage), and . . . freedom.
In a funny trickster tale of her own, Kasza keeps readers guessing until the surprise ending when they'll realize it was piglet's lucky day all along."
I really laughed out loud at this children's book. This sweet story of manipulation is so comical. I love that the story has interesting twists that engage the readers. The piglet is so cleaver and sneaky that you fall in love with it right away. I know that in my classroom, the students will love this book.
August 12, 2024
This is a fun book.
3/25/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
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6/12/18 Read with Julia & Simon
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5/28/19 Read with Naomi & Julia.
1/21/20 Read with Julia
3/21/20 Read with Naomi and Julia #covidreader "Mom, I love this book."
3/27/20 Read with Julia #covidreader
8/9/24 Read with the GTC kids
3/25/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
5/22/17 Read with Naomi & Julia.
7/8/2017 Read with Julia.
11/15/17 Read with Julia.
6/12/18 Read with Julia & Simon
7/10/18 Read with Julia & Simon
5/28/19 Read with Naomi & Julia.
1/21/20 Read with Julia
3/21/20 Read with Naomi and Julia #covidreader "Mom, I love this book."
3/27/20 Read with Julia #covidreader
8/9/24 Read with the GTC kids
July 17, 2020
A fox is outfoxed by a clever pig who cons the hungry predator into giving him dinner, a bath, and a massage. With darling artwork by the author.
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November 2, 2014“My Lucky Day” is about a pig who knocks on the door of a fox. The fox thinks it is his lucky day and prepares to cook the pig. The pig tricks the fox into giving him a bath, cooking him dinner, and giving him a massage by saying it will make him a tastier meal. In the end, the fox collapses from exhaustion. The pig skips home thinking about his lucky day and planning which animal to visit next.
This is a picture book because every page has an illustration and a small amount of text. It is also 32 pages long, the standard length of a picture book.
This book could be used to make predictions about what will happen to the pig, make inferences about why the pig visited the fox, and to talk about irony with older students.
The Scholastic Book Wizard recommends this book for K-2 students and lists the difficulty as Grade Level Equivalent 1.5. I agree that children in primary grades would enjoy the illustrations and the surprise twist in the story. I am not sure they would understand that the pig intentionally visited the fox. I think this book could also be used with older students as a read aloud for a mini lesson about inferences or irony.
This is a picture book because every page has an illustration and a small amount of text. It is also 32 pages long, the standard length of a picture book.
This book could be used to make predictions about what will happen to the pig, make inferences about why the pig visited the fox, and to talk about irony with older students.
The Scholastic Book Wizard recommends this book for K-2 students and lists the difficulty as Grade Level Equivalent 1.5. I agree that children in primary grades would enjoy the illustrations and the surprise twist in the story. I am not sure they would understand that the pig intentionally visited the fox. I think this book could also be used with older students as a read aloud for a mini lesson about inferences or irony.
November 11, 2024
Tonight we learned about irony and trickster animals! Admired the illustrations while chugging my nighttime bottle.
October 27, 2016
Kasza creates playful conflict and suspense in this rambunctious picture book catered best for early elementary grades. The pig in the story has a plan. He visits a fox, and through a series of very cleverly crafted dialogue exchanges, he manipulates the fox into doing all sorts of hilarious things before the fox falls asleep and the pig takes off with the fox’s treats. The writing is strong, especially the sharp and witty dialogue. The book produces great humor and a climatic end. The resolution is satisfactory and fun as the opposite of what should happen occurs, as the pig outwits the fierce and mighty fox. Children will enjoy cheering for the pig as they watch his sly moves unfold on the fox. Kasza’s words allow the pictures to tell their own story as the facial expressions on the characters bring the things they say to life. Children can examine the pictures and see the deception the pig works on the fox. This picture book can easily engage an audience of children.
September 20, 2015
This is one of my all time favorite books! In this smart and funny story by Keiko Kasza, Mr. Fox thinks it's his lucky day because dinner came knocking on his door! Little does he know that this Pig is a master in the craft of outsmarting! Pig convinces Mr. Fox to do a couple of things so that his dinner experience is delightful! Fox gives him a bath so when he eats him he will be clean, feeds him so that he's plump and juicy, massages him so that his meat is tender. At the end of the story we find out about Pig's other plots to deceive!
This is a must read for my first graders! Students are very engaged during the read aloud and love how Pig is able to outsmart Mr. Fox! After reading the story, students could act it out, I'm pretty sure they would love that!
This is a must read for my first graders! Students are very engaged during the read aloud and love how Pig is able to outsmart Mr. Fox! After reading the story, students could act it out, I'm pretty sure they would love that!
July 17, 2015
A very clever pig in this story--one who keeps a writer's notebook. It is the notebook that lets us know who the story ends: we infer from what it says and the picture on the last page--but different readers may read it differently. So. . . teaching inference, teaching the value of a writer's notebook?
February 10, 2018
This is a fun book about a pig that out smarts a fox. In the beginning of the book the fox believes that he is going to get to eat the pig, but the fox was wrong. The pig ended up with a hot bath, a good meal, and a much needed massage.
This book is very engaging to the young child with pictures that are fun and detailed.
This book is very engaging to the young child with pictures that are fun and detailed.
February 9, 2012
Kids love this book. The illustrations, especially the innocent look on the pig and the frustrated face of the fox are a hoot, and they love the slyness of the pig (such a switch from the usual slyness of the fox).
April 21, 2015
A pig fools a hungry fox into bathing, feeding, and massaging him. The poor fox works himself into exhaustion in preparation for a tasty feast, but falls down dead asleep before he can enjoy his hard-earned "dinner."
Good read aloud for PreK-2.
Good read aloud for PreK-2.
May 29, 2019
I used this lesson for 2nd Grade Reading Groups. Standard: Compare and Contrast Two or more versions of the same story by different authors.
Compare and Contrast with Three Little Pigs traditional story
Compare and Contrast with Three Little Pigs traditional story
February 4, 2014
Giggle-inducing story about a trickster-pig and his meeting with a hungry fox. Loved by ages 4-6.
July 13, 2015
A clever take on the "outfoxing the fox" plot.
June 19, 2017
Cute, clever and funny.
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February 13, 2018A Monarch Winner! A cute story about a fox trying to eat a pig but the pig has different plans. Will the Pig outsmart the sly fox? You just have to read the book!
August 1, 2019
When a little pig knocks on the fox's door right about supper time, the fox thinks it's his lucky day. After giving the pig a bath, a massage, and a full meal, is the fox really the lucky one?
January 2, 2022
A cute story about a clever pig that tricks his predators. This pig tricks all of these scary animals into giving him a bath and feeding him, then he sneaks away, happy.
This story was clever, and cute. My kids enjoyed it okay. My daughter more so thankful my son. He’s still too little to really understand stories like this. This is a good read for school-ages children.
This story was clever, and cute. My kids enjoyed it okay. My daughter more so thankful my son. He’s still too little to really understand stories like this. This is a good read for school-ages children.
November 19, 2020
Bonito cuento, es agradable saber las formas astutas de salir de una situación difícil XD
January 20, 2025
This book is soooo funny! You should read it!!!
November 7, 2019
My favorite part was when the pig escaped.
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September 27, 2016This story is really interesting to read. It is folk literature and it corresponds to the traditional Three Little Pigs tale. However, there is one little pig who ends up tricking the wolf in to letting it go. The pig goes through multiple close to death situations where he ends up outsmarting the wolf. Then at the end of the story, the pig has exhausted the wolf and the wolf ends up falling asleep and the pig is allowed to get away. I love the illustrations of the text. It is very colorful and it allows for the reader to be engaged in the book by having the sentences spaced out over the pages and not just located within one paragraph. The one thing that I do not like is how at the end, it talks about who the Pig will end up tricking next just to get food. I do not think that is a good lesson to portray to kids that as long as they can't talk themselves out of trouble, they are good to go. I would use this lesson to make predictions. The questions that I would ask are "Why do you think the pig keeps coming up with excuses?" (page 13). "What do you expect is about to happen by the face of the fox?" (page 21). "Who do you think the pig will visit next?" (Page 29). This book did not receive any awards. For writing, I would get my students to think of a time that their parents asked them to do something, but they kept coming up with excuses and tried to avoid doing it. Did their parents eventually just give up? Did the kids get in more trouble with the more excuses that they gave their parents? This would be a good activity to learn your students and see if they tend to do this often and also the type of items that they give excuses about.
February 17, 2015
My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza is an extremely cute and well-written book for children in preschool to about 8 years old. It centers around a piglet going to a fox's house, and "outfoxing the fox" from eating him. The illustrations and story line are very hard to choose between for my favorite part of this book. The illustrations show a great amount of work that can be seen in the textures in the drawing, such as the fox's fur, and the expressions the pig and fox have throughout the story. The story line was very attention-grabbing because, at first, it seems like a typical pig and fox story (there are many of those it seems like), but then the pig keeps tricking the fox into delaying eating him in very humorous ways.
This book didn't seem to have any difficult language or deeper meaning or theme, so I personally wouldn't recommend it for a lesson being taught or anything, but for fun, independent, free-time reading time for children. I personally loved this book and I know I would've enjoyed it thoroughly when I was little.
If I was reading this aloud to a classroom, I would do what Ms. Nielsen did with our class when reading a particular story, which was to not show us the pictures until the very end while we made mental images of what we were envisioning while it was being read aloud, and I would also have my young students draw, not just think about, the characters and specific parts that stood out the most to them.
This book didn't seem to have any difficult language or deeper meaning or theme, so I personally wouldn't recommend it for a lesson being taught or anything, but for fun, independent, free-time reading time for children. I personally loved this book and I know I would've enjoyed it thoroughly when I was little.
If I was reading this aloud to a classroom, I would do what Ms. Nielsen did with our class when reading a particular story, which was to not show us the pictures until the very end while we made mental images of what we were envisioning while it was being read aloud, and I would also have my young students draw, not just think about, the characters and specific parts that stood out the most to them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 407 reviews