Saucy [electronic resource] / Cynthia Kadohata

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  • Additional Information
    • Abstract:
      Summary: From Newbery Medalist and National Book Award–winning author Cynthia Kadohata comes an irrepressible and heartwarming story about a girl and her ever-growing pig, Saucy—perfect for fans of The One and Only Ivan and Flora & Ulysses ! Being a quadruplet can make it hard to stand out from the crowd. Becca's three brothers all have something that makes them... them . Jake has his music and dancing, Jammer plays hockey, and K.C. thinks they're all living in a simulation and doesn't see the point of doing much of anything. Becca is the only one with nothing to make her special. But when she finds a tiny, sick piglet on the side of the road, Becca knows this is it. This is her thing. She names the piglet Saucy and between her own pleading and Saucy's sweet, pink face, Becca convinces her family to take her in. Soon, Saucy is as big a part of the family as anyone else—and getting bigger . With each pound Saucy gains, the more capable she becomes of destroying the house and landing Becca in trouble. Some tough decisions need to be made about Becca's pet, and her search for solutions brings to light exactly where Saucy came from. Turns out, there are a lot more scared piglets out there, and saving them may take Becca and her brothers finally doing something together.
    • Notes:
      Adobe EPUB eBook ebook-epub-adobe 33524604
      Kindle Book ebook-kindle
      OverDrive Read ebook-overdrive
    • ISBN:
      9781442412804
    • Accession Number:
      fay.716643

Reviews

Booklist Reviews 2020 September #1

Becca is one of four quadruplets, but while her brothers have found their passions—sports, music, and science—she feels more adrift. Longing for something to pour her heart into, she finds that opportunity in the form of an incredibly sick piglet, languishing roadside. Becca is smitten, and despite the obvious challenges in raising a pig in a busy home, she talks her parents into rescuing the poor critter. But how long can it last? And where did the irrepressible piglet, christened Saucy, actually come from? The story, tender and entertaining, finds excellent balance between the humor of a large pig in a small house and Becca's profound emotional awakenings. Her supportive and slightly chaotic family is a highlight, including a wheelchair-using brother who's never left out of the action. A late shift to a factory-farm rescue is somewhat jarring, though it offers an age-appropriate introduction to issues surrounding animal treatment. Overall, the high jinks are fresh and funny, and Becca's experiences and introspection beautifully encapsulate lessons in friendship, love, and the joy of family. Grades 4-7. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews 2021 #1

Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Becca, one of a set of quadruplets, discovers an ailing baby pig by the side of the road and brings it home. From this point on, life in her family goes from baseline busy to complete mayhem as Saucy destroys the kitchen cupboards, breaks the fridge, shreds the living-room curtains, uproots the garden, eats everything in sight, and, thriving under Becca's loving care, gets bigger and bigger over the course of a summer. (As the prospect of a six-hundred-pound pet looms, there is really only one solution...the pig sanctuary.) But Becca's experience has given her fresh confidence, which she uses to right a wrong she had done to her best friend and to organize the youth of her town to protest the practices of factory farming. The tale includes classic middle-grade tropes such as kindly, hapless parents with financial challenges; mean girls; a grumpy grandmother with a heart of gold; and a supporting cast of characters each identified by broadly defined qualities (of Becca's three brothers, Jammer is a jock; Bailey, who has cerebral palsy, is sensitive and artistic; and K.C. has a scientific/philosophical mind). This funny, lively story, with scene-setting digital illustrations, also serves as a cautionary tale regarding oh-so-cute pigs as pets. Sarah Ellis January/February 2021 p.106 Copyright 2021 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.