All the Pigs are Beautiful by Dick King-Smith, is a love letter by the author to pigs. The book begins with an explanation of how much he loves pigs, no matter shape, size or color, moves on to what pigs like and don’t like, and how they live. There are occasional sidebar-type handwritten notes which provide a little bit of extra information about the cloven hooved mud dwellers King-Smith can’t stop raving about. The text is large and readable, and the pictures are warm and inviting and happy. This book would work well in a unit about animals or farms or farm animals. The book is part of Candlewick Press’s Read and Wonder series, which boasts of bringing in the best elements of fiction and non-fiction to keep young readers engaged. So you do get some narrative which is “spoken” by the pigs, and this is a little confusing, because the book is not one in which pigs can talk. Instead it is understood that these are the pigs’ anthropomorphized thoughts. This is fiction, but billed as non-fiction on some websites. Either way, it isn’t a bad book, but it should mention something about the fact that these pigs are eventually slaughtered and eaten. ( )

This book is a fiction picture book about pigs. This book tells and teaches about pigs in all different shapes and sizes. It gives an understanding that (like people) pigs are all different and still beautiful in their own way. It would be a great introduction to animals. ( )

I love pigs, so of course I loved this picture book! Sometimes it seems like there's too much text for younger kids, but the illustrations are almost unbearably cute so I think that makes up for too much text on some pages. ( )

Dick King-Smith explains why he loves pigs and tells young readers about their habits and characteristics. The end-papers have drawings of 22 breeds you're most likely to see when visiting a farm (in the UK). There is also a simple index of 8 words which would be a good introduction to indices for young readers. ( )