[BOOK REVIEW] Perfect the Pig by Susan Jeschke

Title:  Perfect the Pig

Author:  Susan Jeschke


Genre: Animal / Friendship / Surrealism / Drama / Adventure


Year Published:  1970


Year Read:  1993

Publisher:  Square Fish

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Depictions of Bullying and Kidnapping)

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As you know, I have seen many children’s books through a brilliant and memorable television series called “Reading Rainbow” and this must be the one thousandth book that I have seen from “Reading Rainbow” which is called “Perfect the Pig.” “Perfect the Pig” is a children’s book by Susan Jeschke which is about an unusual pig named Perfect who has sprouted wings and he finds a friend in a woman named Olive. “Perfect the Pig” is a wonderful tale about true friendship that children will read over and over again!

Amazing! Simply amazing! I never would have thought that I would have read a book that truly defines the true meaning of friendship in such a dramatic way! Susan Jeschke has certainly done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this book about true friendship and I loved the way that Susan Jeschke has made this story extremely heartwarming and intense at the same time as it vividly details the adventures that Perfect the pig has on his journey to the city. The scene that I was almost literally crying at was when Perfect is lost in the fog and he is taken in by a man who mistreats him badly and I was literally screaming for Perfect to get back home to Olive. I was also near to tears about the scene where Perfect the pig is kicked out of his home because of his wings and it reminded me of the movie “Dumbo” where Dumbo was mistreated by the other elephants because of his large ears. Susan Jeschke’s illustrations are extremely beautiful and dramatic and I really loved the image of Perfect the pig himself as he has beautiful wings, which makes him look like a character that came out of a mythological book and I also loved the way that the black and white colors complement to the dramatic tone of this book.

For those of you who have seen this book on “Reading Rainbow,” you might be a little disappointed that this book is not in color and the illustrations are in black and white. Even though I loved the illustrations, I will admit that I was a little disappointed that this book was not in color like I seen on “Reading Rainbow” however the story was still enjoyable to read and it did not completely set me off from the main story.

Overall, “Perfect the Pig” is a brilliant book about the power of true friendship and just being yourself no matter what other people think. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children might be worried about the kidnapping scene.