Review Detail

PIG THE PUG: CRANKY PUG is a board book about emotions. Each page features an emotion along with an illustration of Pig and a quote related to it. The end of the book has a mirror that encourages young readers to look at themselves and describe how they are feeling.

What I loved: This is a simple book and will appeal to fans of Pig the Pug, with a focus on emotions. The book covers a breadth of emotions/feelings, and Pig is quite expressive throughout, showing the related face for that feeling. The mirror at the end is lots of fun and works well for young readers in this age range to explore their own face and feelings.

What left me wanting more: Some of the quotes did not quite seem to match up to the feeling in an obvious way and seemed a bit confusing. For instance, sad has "OK. You win" and cranky has "I want all my stuff," which can be challenging for young readers to understand and interpret. For the toddler/preschool crowd, more obvious or related statements would be appreciated. There is also not a story line with only random quotes throughout. From the title, I had expected a story about what it means to feel cranky and the outcomes of this emotion, but this was more of a walk through feelings that did not always seem straightforward.

Final verdict: Overall, PIG THE PUG: CRANKY PUG is a board book that introduces the concept of emotions/feelings and includes a fun mirror for little readers.