What This Story Needs Is a Bang and a Clang (Pig in a Wig Series)

by Emma J. Virjan, Emma J. Virjan (Illustrator)

Overview

Join Pig and her friends in their latest adventure as they get ready to put on the best show ever! From author-illustrator Emma J. Virján comes another funny read-aloud with catchy, rhythmic text and big, bold illustrations.

What this story needs is a pig in a wig,

building a stage, arranging a stand,

and getting ready to conduct the Pig in a Wig Band.

But when a surprise guest shows up onstage, scaring Elephant, there’s a BANG and a CLANG as everyone topples over! Will Pig and her friends be able to get back on track to finish the show?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062415301
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/03/2017
Series:	Pig in a Wig Series
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	344,932
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Emma J. Virján was born under an Aries moon on a Wednesday, her dad’s bowling night. She loves to draw and work in her garden, and she often lets her dog sleep on the couch. She makes her home in Austin, Texas, where she spends her days as an illustrator and graphic designer. Unlike Pig, Emma has never worn a wig, but she is thinking of buying one—a red one, of course. Visit her at \ www.emmavirjan.com.

Emma J. Virján was born under an Aries moon on a Wednesday, her dad’s bowling night. She loves to draw and work in her garden, and she often lets her dog sleep on the couch. She makes her home in Austin, Texas, where she spends her days as an illustrator and graphic designer. Unlike Pig, Emma has never worn a wig, but she is thinking of buying one—a red one, of course. Visit her at \ www.emmavirjan.com.

Editorial Reviews

11/07/2016
Virján’s wig-wearing pig returns in her fourth picture book, a noisy outing that gets underway after the pig builds a bandstand and attracts an outfit of instrument-playing animals. As in the previous books, there’s raucousness to spare in Virján’s punchy rhymes (“This story also needs a twang, a tootle, a ping, a boom,/ a brup, a jingle, and a doom-doom-doom”), and children can easily match up the various instruments with the sounds they make, from the “tish” of an elephant’s cymbals to the “bwap” of a monkey’s trombone. The Pig on a Wig Band’s music gets temporarily disrupted when a mouse with a (tiny) tuba frightens an elephant, but it isn’t long before they are up, running, and attracting applause. It’s good, boisterous, musical fun. Ages 4–8. Agent: Edite Kroll, Edite Kroll Literary. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

...good, boisterous, musical fun.” — Publishers Weekly

“The fourth Pig in a Wig adventure works well for one-on-one reading and also as a read-aloud, thanks to the dark outlines and easy-to-read font. An entertaining new addition to a popular series.” — Booklist Online

“The climax and resolution will reassure beginning readers, who will likely want an encore.....Another solid choice for early reader shelves.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

The fourth Pig in a Wig adventure works well for one-on-one reading and also as a read-aloud, thanks to the dark outlines and easy-to-read font. An entertaining new addition to a popular series.

Booklist Online

03/01/2017
PreS-Gr 1—The pig in a wig is back in this latest installment of the early reader series featuring the porcine protagonist with a red beehive hairdo. The industrious porker is building an outdoor stage while animal musician friends gather for a performance by the Pig in a Wig Band. During rehearsal, a mouse comes along with his French horn, and there's "a startle, a jump, an EEK, and a SHRIEK!" and the band is suddenly in disarray. Pig in a Wig insists that the story must get back on track. Order is restored, and all's well that ends well, with an appreciative audience clapping for the band. Colorful illustrations with a heavy black outline and text in a large, black serif font will be accessible for young readers. Rhythm and rhyme are maintained throughout. The climax and resolution will reassure beginning readers, who will likely want an encore. VERDICT Another solid choice for early reader shelves.—Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX

School Library Journal

2016-09-19
The fourth in the early-reader Pig in a Wig series. This time the pig in a wig finds herself conducting an orchestra. Humor is the order of the day as the various animals—raccoon, dog, bird, cow, cat—assemble to play the instruments. At first, the pig is alone on the bandstand, but her musical friends soon join in on a wide assortment of instruments: banjo, bells, bass, trombone, bugle, kazoo, and drum. When a little, tuba-playing mouse joins in with a squeak, the whole band goes crazy! It’s not clear why all the animals are unnerved by the mouse, but they certainly are. Feeling more like a choppy phonics textbook than a story, the book doesn’t give readers enough to make it worth the work to read. While each traditional sound word (“buzz,” “jingle”) could be decoded by beginning readers, Virján includes so many nonsense words (including “tootle,” “brup,” “tish,” and “bwap”) in her text—often they are the only words on a page—that young readers may lose interest along the way. Parents and teachers who will be called upon to help young readers sound out the “words” will quickly tire of the chore. Followers of the series will enjoy another go-around with this familiar character, but the plot does not hold up to its predecessors. Muted giggles but no standing ovation for this orchestra. (Early reader. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews