Hog-Eye

The hilarious story of how a piglet tells her family how she was caught by a wolf and nearly became soup.

Publishers Weekly

The creator of Martha the talking dog (Martha Speaks; Martha Calling) deftly spins a fairy tale about a modern piglet who outwits a big bad wolf. ``Yesterday, my whole family met me at the door. They wanted to know why I didn't go to school,'' the narrator begins. She proceeds to relate a harrowing story of catching the wrong bus and disembarking near some deep dark woods. The mother pig swoons to hear that her daughter was captured by a wolf, but the others are transfixed as the youngster explains how she escaped being made into soup. The wolf, it seems, cannot read, and he allows the pig to list soup ingredients (among them ``Green Three-Leaf,'' aka poison ivy) from a cookbook (actually a volume titled ``EZ Car Care''). ``Hog-Eye'' is the name of the ``spell'' the piglet casts, just as the ivy triggers the wolf's uncontrollable itching. As in the Martha books, Meddaugh expertly controls the pace by alternating text and droll voice-bubble asides. The wolf-related action is rendered primarily in large images, while the piglet and her shocked family appear in smaller watercolors at the foot of the page. Even as she shows that the imperiled pig has lived to tell her tale, the author maintains dramatic tension, heightening the comedy of this riotous caper. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for GOOD STONES (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including MARTHA SPEAKS, which was chosen as a NEW YORK TIMES Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.