Beryl: A Pig’s Tale

In Dickensian fashion, Simmons (the Daisy the Duck series) introduces readers to orphaned piglet Beryl and the cruel world of factory farming in her first novel. Beryl’s sty is “small and made of concrete and it sat in the corner of a huge, hangar-size barn.” When another pig tricks the farmer into taking Beryl to be slaughtered, Beryl—who bears a passing resemblance to Ian Falconer’s Olivia in the smudgy b&w spot art—escapes and befriends Amber, a kindly wild pig. Beryl steels herself in facing such trials as saving a drowning piglet, and through a series of somewhat transparent events, her heritage as a half-wild pig is revealed. This discovery links the overarching themes of family, prejudice, and the inhumanity of factory farms: “Black and gray smoke belched from the factory chimneys, sweeping across the whole valley like a creeping cancer.” Such heavy-handed indictments of humans who are “destroying everything,” and odd, New Agey “Mystic Boars” who declare Beryl the “Chosen One” weigh heavily on this simple tale of a pig who longs for home and family. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)