Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey: Candlewick Sparks

by Alex Milway, Alex Milway (Illustrator)

Overview

“An entertaining kickoff to a series of adventures, whether Harold likes it or not.” — Publishers Weekly

Pigsticks is the last in a noble line of explorers, and he’s decided it’s time for him to follow in his forepigs’ footsteps—with an assistant to do the heavy lifting, of course. When his help-wanted ad draws a motley crew of candidates, he chooses a hapless delivery hamster named Harold. After a long trek through jungles, over deserts, and up a giant ice-topped mountain, the last crumb of cake is stolen by a herd of thieving goats, and their goal is nowhere in sight. Will they ever discover the Ends of the Earth?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763681050
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Series:	Candlewick Sparks Series
Pages:	84
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

 

Editorial Reviews

Milway develops his characters into quite lovable friends that children will adore. Pigsticks is certainly in charge, but it is clear that without his assistant, his goal will never be realized. Ample illustrations and a large font make this is a solid chapter book addition for new and/or struggling readers.
—School Library Journal

Milway’s ink illustrations ... [use] sequential panels to show the duo’s progress, and the art often reveals the truth behind the deadpan text. “Harold was definitely going deeper into the jungle than any hamster had gone before,” he writes as Harold sinks into a pit of quicksand. An entertaining kickoff to a series of adventures, whether Harold likes it or not.
—Publishers Weekly

When Pigsticks, a pig with wanderlust, teams up with Harold the hamster, anything can happen. ... Humorous cartoon illustrations appear on most pages and extend the text, adding to the chuckles. ... Funny.
—Kirkus Reviews

With rich vocabulary, humor, and busy illustrations, this book should satisfy the young illustrated fiction reader in your library.
—Library Media Connection

Milway’s humorously dramatic writing keeps the story moving along at a snappy pace. The plentiful pictures, rendered in ink and colored digitally, offer a stylized, cartoonish world. Pigsticks’ oversized snout, baby-blue eyes, and changing headgear (suited to the various climes) give him presence, while rotund, brown Harold elicits sympathy with his clearly overstuffed backpack. Budding adventurers and lovers of comic stories will enjoy this duo’s escapades, and a spot of cake afterwards would not go amiss.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

In three generously illustrated chapters we follow the explorers as they survive swamps, deserts, rickety rope bridges, malevolent mountain goats, and an avalanche to return home triumphant. The art is slapdash-goofy: Pigsticks looks like a yam with a snout, and Harold is a mustachioed hacky sack. Frequent disconnects between text and pictures carry much of the humor in this tongue-in-cheek-funny (everybody will have the pleasure of seeing right through Pigsticks’s charming arrogance) early chapter book. Plums for grownups? Mild satire of the British-colonial mindset and some porcine parodies of cubist masterworks on Pigsticks’s walls.
—The Horn Book

[W]hen it comes to children’s literature there are a few elements that can be counted on to endear book to reader. Characters with wildly opposite dispositions (and the humor that stems from their relationship). A journey’s usually good. And vibrant, modern illustrations never hurt. Early Reader Pigsticks and Harold by Alex Milway has all of these elements. It’s entertaining, it’s subtly sophisticated, and it’s a book that readers won’t want to put down.
—100 Scope Notes

From the Publisher

2014-03-17
When Pigsticks, a pig with wanderlust, teams up with Harold the hamster, anything can happen. Pigsticks wants to be just like his ancestor, Col. Pigslet, who traveled to the Ends of the Earth. Unlike the colonel, Pigsticks intends to make it back alive. But he needs an assistant and interviews just about everyone in Tuptown; alas, no one is worthy. And then he meets Harold, who is convinced to join the trip with the promise of three cakes as payment. Silliness ensues as the two make the seemingly never-ending trek through jungles and up mountains and into avalanches to the Ends of the Earth. Humorous cartoon illustrations appear on most pages and extend the text, adding to the chuckles. One especially funny picture shows Harold being squeezed by a boa constrictor while the text remarks, "he wasn't having quite so much fun." The story needs the humor. Many very challenging words ("Battenburg," "persuasive," "intrepid," "ravine," "evasive maneuvers" "ascent," "unconvinced") make this a stiff read, even for confident emergent readers. Most pages contain just a few sentences, but a few are so filled with words that many children will be left frustrated. It's funny, but as a book for beginning readers—which it's billed as—it misses the mark. (Early reader. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews