Title: Babe the Gallant Pig
Author: Dick King-Smith Copyright Date: 1983
Genre: Fantasy Pages of Book: 118 Pages
Publisher: Dell Publishing Co., Inc. Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Summary: “Babe the Gallant Pig” is about a runt pig that ends up at a county fair. A man by the name of Farmer Hogget guesses Babe’s (the runt pig) weight correctly and gets to keep him. The farmer’s intention is to fatten this pig up and then butcher and eat him. In the mean time however he makes friends with the sheep-herding dog and her pups. They sleep together they do everything together except when she goes to herd the sheep with Farmer Hogget. One night an old sheep is hurt so she is brought into the barn where Babe and the dogs all sleep. Babe talks to the old sheep and becomes friends with her. This plays a significant role because Babe becomes fascinated with herding and has Fly (mamma dog) teach him how to herd, along with her puppies. One day he asks his friend sheep why they are so stubborn when being herded. He learns that if the dogs would just ask nicely they would be willing to do whatever. After some men try to steal Farmer Hogget’s sheep herd while him and Fly were gone, Babe saves the day and tells the sheep what to do. After that the farmer lets Babe start herding the sheep along with Fly. He does a great job and Farmer Hogget is very impressed. One day however Babe runs out to talk to his old friend who is a sheep, and he finds that a coyote has attacker her. He fights of the coyote but when Farmer Hogget comes out, he thinks Babe killed the sheep. As the farmer is about to kill Babe his wife comes out and says that there has been wild dogs killing sheep in the area. He sees what Babe actually did by fighting off the dogs. After that the farmer enters Babe into a herding competition. By talking nicely and asking them politely he herds them in the contest. He does an amazing job and wins 1st prize. Everyone is so shocked that pig was entered let alone wins. Babe receives the nickname of sheep-pig and is now part of the family.
Reactions: I have always loved this book, it was one of my childhood favorites. I think I love this story so much because of the talking animals. I thought it was so good to see the animals at the farm all getting along. The animals were then brought to life and you could really see their personalities.
Problems: The problems that come about in this book is first that Babe is supposed to be butchered. Another is that Babe being blamed for killing the old sheep of Farmer Hogget.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book to children even younger than 9 to 12 like the reading level suggests. I think this book is fairly juvenile. The only reason I could see maybe waiting until their older is the way Farmer Hogget talks might be for a little older ages.
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