The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs

The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig

32 pp. | Houghton | April, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-618-07436-8 $$15.00

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Linda S. Wingerter. In this magical, image-rich text, shy Isabel has two anchors in her life: her sea captain grandfather, who dowses, and her best friend, a pig. When things go wrong and the Pig of the Pig gets lost, Isabel convinces Grandfather not to give up on his water gift, which finds lost animals as well as water. Brush strokes in the folksy art's thick underpainting show through the nostalgic acrylic glaze of a coastal idyll.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003