In this rib-tickling sequel to The Great Pig Escape, two farmers seek hogs that are hidden in plain sight. As Bert and Ethel shrug and scratch their heads over their lost pigs, other townspeople go about their business—some of them wearing floppy hats and carrying newspapers to shield their faces. How strange. After a postcard reading "Oink!" arrives from Florida, Bert books a beach vacation and spends it asking, "Seen any runaway pigs?" Neither the squealing hotel clerk, the restaurant's pink maitre-d' nor the policewoman with the funny snout can help him. Christelow places sympathy firmly with the swine by suggesting the farmers' intentions. Bert complains, "I raised those pork chops from baby piglets!" and Ethel reminds him that freedom "beats being bacon any day." In her casually drawn ink-and-watercolor images, pigs in wigs, scarves and swimsuits grin conspiratorially; when Bert falls off a fishing boat, he doesn't notice he's been rescued by an amiable porcine sailor. The author gets a few more giggles out of a classic comedy plot, pitting brazen outlaws against thickheaded authorities. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)
