Review: Under a Pig Tree - A History of the Noble Fruit

Pigs appear in earliest recorded history. They were actually presented as medals during the first Olympic Games. They are found all over the world and some have even become quite famous.

But they really are at their very best, plucked straight from the tree.

Oh. Wait...
This is a brilliantly-conceived book that centres on a single play-on-word between 'pig' and 'fig'.

Beginning with some interesting facts on 'pigs', the book becomes progressively sillier, with pigs dropping from trees like fruit, and playing X-boxes and chugging back Slurpies (these are the fruit that easily become 'spoiled').

All the way through this kooky narrative, a loudly-protesting graffiti artist covers the pages in response to the utter piggy/figgy nonsense, with comments such as:

'Figs, people. These are facts about FIGS.'

'Are you kidding?'

'Have you people lost your minds?'

And my personal fave:

'I'm calling my agent.'

At the back of the book, we find recipes for such figgy (er, piggy) delights as Pigs Stuffed with Blue Cheese and Fresh Pigs with Orange and Ginger sauce.

A delightful blending of fact, fiction, humour and absolutely gorgeous image.

Different. Happy. Great fun.

Title: Under a Pig Tree - A History of the Noble Fruit
Author: Margie Palatini
Illustrator:  Chuck Groenink
Publisher: Abrams, $19.99 RRP
Publication Date: 18 May 2015
Format: Hard cover with dust jacket
ISBN: 9781419714887
For ages: 6 - 10
Type: Picture Book