By J.K. Rowling
Amazon rating: 4.5/5, grades 3-6
Good Reads: 4.19/5
Common Sense Media: 5/5, ages 8+
4Rbooks: 5/6, grades 5-8
288 pages
Synopsis:
Jack and DP (Dur Pig, a stuffed animal) are inseparable. DP has been Jack’s friend through all the good times and bad. Jack talks to him and shares all his secrets. DP listens and understands everything that Jack is feeling, as only a great stuffed animal can. Then one horrible day Jack’s stepsister Holly throws DP away. Jack’s best friend is gone forever.
Holly tries to make amends with Jack and buys him a new pig, CP, the Christmas Pig, but Jack wants nothing to do with him. Until CP suddenly is able to talk to him and shares that there may be a way to find DP and bring him back home, but only if they leave now for the Land of the Lost.
Jack finds himself working he way through the land where things go when they are lost. He works his way through Mislaid, Disposable, Bother it’s Gone, Missing, and Land of the Beloved. He and CP get help along the way while trying to avoid The Loser, a horrible creature who rules the Land of the Lost and wants nothing more than to find them. Christmas Eve is the night for miracles, can Jack and CP make one happen?
Parental Guidance: medium
Jack hears his parents arguing and then his dad leaves. Eventually there is a
divorce and Jack and his mom move to start over.
Jack’s mom gets remarried, and Jack now has a stepsister who isn’t always
nice to him, including throwing DP out the car window while they are
driving.
In the Land of the Lost, there is a creature called “The Loser” who eats the
truly unwanted items and it’s after Jack and CP.
There are Loss Adjusters who keep all the lost things in their place and
report back to The Loser. In one scene they take a dirty blue bunny
and throw it down a hole
A character called Hope is in the Land of the Lost because her owner was
sentenced to prison as a political prisoner.
Lost things are kept in cages in the Loser’s lair, waiting to be eaten.
Mature themes: among the things lost are ambition, hope, memory, and
principles.
Recommendation:
Velveteen Rabbit + Phantom Tollbooth + Toy Story 2 is what I kept thinking as reading The Christmas Pig, a new children’s novel from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. The cover and seemingly simple story would make you think this is a young children’s book, but size, scary images and mature themes makes it an upper elementary, if not middle school read. Many adults would enjoy this story too, especially the way Rowling includes emotions among the “lost” items with back stories to detail how they the became lost.
The early part of the story is rough and slow as the reader works there way through Jack’s parent’s divorce, moving homes, his mom’s remarriage, and relationship with a new stepsister. Once the story moves into the Land of the Lost the pace picks up and becomes a compelling adventure read. An upper elementary student will enjoy the story as it is but may not understand the nuanced meanings behind the different lands and missing things. It could work well with a small reading group. Parents may have to explain different parts of the story as an individual read. Middle school students should be able to understand and appreciate the quality of the story and the overall theme behind Rowling’s story.
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