Pig the Pug

About the Pig the Pug series

Pig is a small, selfish pug with an ego far too big for his tiny body, and he cannot stand to share anything with his patient, good-natured housemate Trevor the dachshund. Each rhyming picture book sets up the same reliable engine: Pig hoards a toy, tells a lie, throws a tantrum, or otherwise puts himself first, and the story escalates his bad behavior into a slapstick, often literally airborne, comeuppance before ending on a small note of consequence or change of heart.

Aaron Blabey writes the whole series in bouncy, read-aloud rhyme with big, expressive cartoon illustrations, which makes it a favorite for read-aloud time and for young readers just starting to enjoy picture books with a naughty streak. Pig never fully reforms the way some picture-book troublemakers do -- part of the joke is that he's a lovable brat who keeps learning the same lesson -- but Trevor's endless patience and the exaggerated, cause-and-effect punishments (Pig getting flattened, launched, or otherwise flattened by his own greed) give each entry a satisfying shape for the very youngest readers.

How to read this series

Each Pig the Pug book is a fully standalone rhyming picture book -- there's no ongoing plot to track, so they can be read in any order. Publication order simply reflects when each was released, from Pig the Pug (2014) through the closing entry, Pig the Rebel (2022).

A handful of entries were retitled between the Australian and US editions of the same book: the sixth book was published as Pig the Grub in Australia and Pig the Stinker in the US, and the eighth as Pig the Blob in Australia and Pig the Slob in the US. This entry lists the US titles, which are the more widely available editions.