FICTION

My Lucky Birthday

by Keiko KASZA
illus. by author. 32p. Putnam. 2013. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-399-25763-6. LC 2011037119.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 2—The cunning pig from My Lucky Day (Putnam, 2003) is back, and the hapless victim of his tricks this time is Alligator Al. It's Al's birthday, and he considers himself quite lucky when a little porker knocks on his door looking for his friend, Freddy. It's Piglet's birthday, and there's going to be a party. Strange, thinks Al. "Who's Freddy? And who has the same birthday as me?" That should have been his first clue. However, Al only sees "the [birthday] dinner of his dreams" standing at his front door. In a flash, he has Piglet bagged up and ready to be cooked. Piglet convinces Al that he deserves a big birthday cake. Al takes the bait, and bakes a nice cake for himself. But what's a party without awesome decorations, asks Piglet. So, Al decorates with balloons and ribbons and a banner. Furthermore, Al shouldn't celebrate alone, says Piglet. "Shall I invite my friends?" A houseful of tasty piglets would just about be the "luckiest birthday ever" for Al, so he concedes. Piglet's friends aren't tasty pork chops, however. Rhino, Hippo, Wild Boar, and Gorilla are so big and scary that Al runs off, leaving Piglet to celebrate his luckiest birthday ever. The final page connects this story to Piglet's earlier lucky day, leaving readers to wonder who will become Piglet's next victim. The illustrations are done in gouache, and although they are typical of Kasza's style, they lack the visual charm of the art in A Mother for Choco (Putnam, 1992), for example. Nevertheless, this trickster/comeuppance story is a fine addition to picture-book collections.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA
It's Alligator Al's birthday, and the only thing he wants is a special treat to eat. When a piglet shows up at his door by mistake, looking for a different birthday party, ravenous Al proclaims that it must be his luckiest birthday ever. Tied up in a potato sack and ready for the cooking pot, the clever little piglet has other ideas: he persuades Al to first bake himself a cake, then decorate his house, and finally to invite some friends over for a party -- Piglet's friends, since Al apparently has none. Picturing a crowd of juicy pigs at his door, Al eagerly agrees but is surprised to find instead that Piglet's friends are a rhino, a hippo, a wild boar, and a gorilla -- all fierce enough to scare the alligator away. It's an unexpected twist on the "birds of a feather" assumption, and the resolution is humorously satisfying. The comic watercolor and ink illustrations help to establish character, and when it comes to overall plotting, Kasza (My Lucky Day, rev. 9/03) is up to her usual high standards, surprising us with details
Reviewed by Roxanne Burg , Jul 01, 2013

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