Pigs from A to Z

by Arthur Geisert

Seven piglets cavort through a landscape of hidden letters as they build a treehouse.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Arthur Geisert grew up in Los Angeles, California, and claims not to have seen a pig until he was an adult. Trained as a sculptor in college, Geisert learned to etch at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Geisert has published just about a book a year for the past thirty years. Every one of his books has been illustrated with etchings. His work has appeared in The New Yorker and The Horn Book Magazine. In 2010 his book Ice was selected as a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated book of the year. Geisert currently lives in a converted bank building in Bernard, Iowa.

Reviews

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally fun alphabet book. It takes us through the building of an amazing tree house by some pigs. Each page showcases a certain letter, with one hidden letter before and after the main one. For example, J is the main letter and there's a hidden I and a hidden K.

Excellent illustrations.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the marvelous ways to make the alphabet come alive to young readers!

Seven piglets cavort through a landscape of hidden letters as they build a treehouse.

Leaves "Where's Waldo" in the dust: This is another picture book -- and pig -- triumph through masterful etchings by Arthur Giesert.

Sentences that introduce each letter of the alphabet are highly intelligent, thought provoking.

In short, Arthur Giesert creates this picture book for lively children and adults, both satisfying and challenging their lively minds.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I have found that features the shapes of letters. For a beginning reader, recognizing the letters is an essential task. For people learning a language using this alphabet (like a Chinese student) this is a fun way to explore the letter shapes. I can't begin to count how many copies of this book I have bought for beginning readers. The backstory of the pigs is fun, the extraordinary illustrations are fascinating, and the adventure is captivating for all ages. I wish I could give this book a ten star rating!

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a neat book. I got it because I thought the illustrations looked really cool, I didn't realize it is sort of a search and find book. The illustrations were really neat and it was fun to find the letters and the piggies.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Category: Picture Book, Alphabet
Audience: Ages 4-8
Brief Description: A family of pigs work together to build a treehouse while the pictures illustrate the letters of the alphabet.
My Review: I really liked this book because it was more than just an regular A to Z book. The pigs are shown on each page, but what I truly love is that the shape of the letter is found on the page numerous times. Whether it is the bend in the tree that make the letter 'B' or the pigs taking a nap which makes the letter 'N' it is truly an interactive story as the children can try and find the letters throughout the story. I looked forward to turning the pages to see what other shapes and concepts they could come up with next. Arthur Geisert did a great job in illustrating this book. When I do have kids, this will surely be a book on my list.
Other Reviews: As I have mentioned, the letters are somewhat hidden on the pages and a review from Publishers Weekly stated that, “This gives readers the opportunity to interact with the book to actually learn about the letter's shape by looking for it.” I felt that this review was helpful in evoking a strong interest in at least picking up the book and thumbing through it. A somewhat negative review from the School Library Journal said that, “ One or two lines of text accompanying the drawings tell the "story" of the piglets' building of an elaborate treehouse. The minimal script adds nothing to the book but a flat and occasionally condescending explanation of the illustrations. The relationship of text to the featured letter is tenuous at best and seems tacked-on.” While I can see how one might arrive at this conclusion I find it awfully harsh and the rest of the review is not much better, attacking the illustrations and their simplicity. I happened to like the drawings even though they were not in color and thoroughly enjoyed the book and thoroughly disagree with this scathing review.
Sources:
MacDonald, E., Jones, T., Gale, D., & Doxsee, E. (1986). [Review of the book Pigs From A to Z ]. School Library Journal, 33(4), 86.
Pigs from A to Z Review by Publishers Weekly. Amazon.com. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from http://www.amazon.com/Pigs-Z-Arthur-G...

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigs from A to Z is an alphabet book using pigs as the main characters throughout. Each letter has the pigs doing a different ask such as "N is for napping neatly in rows" and has an illustration of the pigs doing that act. The illustrations are beautifully drawn in this picture book and are very detailed. Children could spend a lot of time looking through the pictures and finding a new detail each time. Using pigs as the main characters for each letter is also helpful for students because they can see them doing different things for each letter and it uses a lot of alliteration throughout the descriptions which makes it fun. The weaknesses I see with this book is that the language does seem high for a picture book. For example, for letter I is for the "ideal tree" and I'm not sure students would understand what that means. This may be a good opportunity to explain higher vocabulary to them. I would recommend this book for grades K-3

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pigs From A to Z is on alphabet book, a concept book, and a story book all in one. In it, seven piglets set out to build a perfect tree house. Each page features a line of the story. For example, "A is for apples to eat In the morning. The perfect way to start a day of tree house building." The opposite page shows a wonderfully detailed pen-and-ink etching. In each of the drawings, the reader can find seven piglets, five versions of the featured letter, and one of the preceding letter and the next letter. (There is a key at the end if you 're having trouble.)

Recommended for grades preschool to kindergarten.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really neat book to use with little children. The children who read this book get to find the hidden letters in the picture. Each page will also contain the preceding letter of the alphabet and the following letter of the alphabet.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giesert's etchings are very inventive but also very demanding. It has an appealing concept of embedded letters, but I tired of it quickly, and I didn't find the narrative arc cohesive enough to help me clear these huddles. Oink.

[Victoria]

Use of etchings to illustrate the piglets building of a treehouse. Each letter of the alaphabet is hidden within the illustration, increasing the intrigue.

[Manypagesago]

Visual Discrimination
Alphabet book

[Jeremy Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden letters book, could be good for letter recognition. Was a hidden picture before it was cool.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful.

[jenna Hudrlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

this man rocks - his illustrations have so much detail they make me drool

[Amanda Schwind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alphabet

Loved everything about this book.
Clever illustrations with hidden letters!