Kurtz, Chris. The Adventures of a South Pole Pig.

Kurtz, Chris.  The Adventures of a South Pole Pig.    Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt Brace     2013 278p ISBN 978-0-547-63455-5  elem  Hardback VG-BN  Animal stories

Upper-level elementary students who enjoy animal stories will appreciate this new title.  In this fantasy, students meet Flora, an adventurous pig who lives on a farm in a pigpen.  While most pigs just live their everyday life, Flora seeks to find real adventure and dreams of being a sled pig after seeing a team of sled dogs.  When Flora is sold and boards a ship headed to the South Pole, she is convinced she is going to be a sled pig, not to be food for others.  As the ship sails, it hits an iceberg and the ship becomes shipwrecked, and Flora saves the captain’s life and teams up with Sophia the cat, the lead dog Oscar, and Aleric, a young boy.  Together, this group helps hide Flora from the dangers of being eaten, and she survives despite being tired and hungry while they are all waiting for a rescue team to come and find them.  When Flora realizes her dream and becomes the lead sled pig, she is thrilled.  Once everyone is rescued and on the new ship, Flora begins to wonder what will come next for her.

Black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout.  Even though the book has a lot of pages for an elementary student, the short chapters and humor in the story will help reluctant readers reach the end.  Students who enjoy animal books will find this title funny, entertaining, and cute.

Schools who participate in Accelerated Reader will be happy to provide an existing quiz to students (AR Quiz # 155743).  This one would make an excellent addition to an elementary collection for casual reading.      

Summary: “Flora the pig ditches the sedentary life on the farm for an adventure in Antarctica, where she escapes the knife and lives her dream of pulling a sled with a team of dogs.”

Animal stories, Pigs-Humor                                  --Charleen Forba-Mayer