Reviews: (by author)

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig. Illus. Linda
S. Wingerter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-07436-8.
www.jacquelinebriggsmartin.com

Written in the first-person, The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig has an oral history feeling about it. Isabel, the book's speaker, relates her grandfather's story as a "water man." After spending time as a sea captain, he returns to land bringing with him only two things: the water gift and the pig that went around Cape Horn. Grandfather uses the water gift (the ability to find water underground using a diving rod) to help out his friends and neighbors. As he does so, he is always accompanied by Isabel and the last pig from the last litter of the pig that went around Cape Horn (the Pig of the Pig).

Trouble enters into the narrative when Grandfather loses the water gift and nothing is the same. Grandfather won't fish for haddock any more, although the Pig of the Pig waits faithfully in the boat each morning. The conflict heightens when the Pig of the Pig turns up missing. When cruel Mr. Stinchfield threatens to make bacon if he finds the Pig of the Pig, the speaker becomes desperate and rouses her grandfather from his depression. The conflict is resolved as, together, they use a divining rod to locate the Pig of the Pig.

Martin's lovely prose combined with the muted colors in Wingerter's illustrations creates a cozy setting for Isabel, her grandparents and the Pig of the Pig that reassures as much as it inspires. The fact that the Pig of the Pig, Isabel's "best friend," is with her in every illustration until she is lost draws out of the reader a fondness for the Pig of the Pig. Her presence in Isabel's life further enhances the sense that Isabel is secure and loved. Since Isabel is the speaker, Isabel's circumstances emotionally affect the reader. This impact can be easily felt when parents read this book to their children.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin, a native to rural Maine, has authored many other children's books, including Caldecott award winner Snowflake Bentley. Other titles by Martin include Grandmother Bryant's Pocket and On Sand Island, both published by Houghton Mifflin. Linda S. Wingerter, an illustrator from a long line of artists (her grandfather painted mural in Lithuania, has illustrated several children's books. The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig is their first collaborative work.

Highly recommended
Elizabeth Klug, October '03

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