Playful Pigs from A to Z

Lobel dresses 26 pink pigs as soldiers, athletes, troubadours, and scamps as they help to celebrate the letters of the alphabet. Setting the action against bucolic hilly landscapes, Lobel introduces each pig with brief phrases that feature alliterative names and verbs: “Imogen Pig imitated an I,” she writes as a tall, skinny pig stands straight as a rail beside a tall, skinny i, the pig’s balloon echoing the lower-case letter’s dot. Lobel also sneaks in a tiny lesson in botany, tucking images of mushrooms, nectarines, onions, and other flora into the corners of each image. A couple weaker entries (“Zeke Pig zzz’d on a Z”) detract only slightly from the charms of these playful, cavorting pigs. Ages 3–7. (July)