Reviews: (by author)

Laski, Kathryn. Illustrated by Marylin Hafner. Lucille's Snowsuit. New York: Crown, 2000. $14.95. ISBN 0-517-80037-3.

An embarrassingly boring, humorless and didactic story about a child who wants to go out and play in the snow with her brother and sister, but has problems putting on her snowsuit. To make things worse, Lucille, her parents and her siblings are pigs. Joseph Schwarcz, one of the foremost scholars of illustrated books for children, has remarked that using anthropomorphic animals in children's books is an expression of obsolete and humiliating view of children. This book is a good example. Unlike Beatrix Potter or William Steig, who portray a subtle tension between human and animal nature, Marylin Hafner obviously depicts Lucille as a pig because "pigs are cute" and because "kids like animals." At least Lucille doesn't eat eggs and bacon for breakfast, as some of her kin in earlier picturebooks!

Reviewed by Maria Nikolajeva

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