BIG PIG'S HAT
by Willy Smax & illustrated by Keren Ludlow
A British husband-wife team set their witty first book in the American West. When a great wind blows Big Pig's hat away, his first thought is to assign blame. His innocent neighbors, classic western types, know enough to hold their tongues when Big Pig charges into town; but after he pushes Dirty Donkey down, and then the wind blows the hat Donkey's way, Donkey bravely makes a stand. Fat, pugnacious Big Pig actually shoots him—and, in a comical surprise ending, his water pistols wash the donkey nice and clean. Smax's succinct text is humorously laconic; Ludlow's broadly caricatured animals are drawn in bold black, energetically overlaid with vibrant but rather subtle colors evoking a dusty desert town beneath a brilliant sky. A welcome debut. (Picture book. 4-8)