The Christmas Pig

Dur Pig otherwise known as DP is a small cuddly and rather grubby pig and is Jack’s most treasured possession.  DP always understands everything and is always there when Jack needs him most such as when his mother remarries and when his older step-sister Holly comes to stay.    But when the unthinkable happens and DP is lost on Christmas Eve Jack is inconsolable.

The family try to help by giving him a new pig – Christmas Pig – but he is not DP and doesn’t smell right.   Luckily it is Christmas Eve; the night where magic and miracles happen.   Jack wakes up to find Christmas Pig and his other toys along with much of his furniture talking amongst themselves.   They tell him it is a special night and the only time he has a chance to get DP back.  To do this he will have to enter The Land of the Lost.  So begins a page-turning magical adventure through the Land of the Lost, where Christmas Pig and Jack will have to dodge Loss Adjusters and escape the clutches of the fearsome Loser who is known to eat toys. Along the way Jack is helped by a talking lunchbox and an early draft of a poem among other brilliantly imagined mislaid objects.   And as in all the best stories by the end Jack come to realise that perhaps Christmas Pig is far more than a replacement after all.

This satisfying Christmas tale is reminiscent of classic stories such as The Velveteen Rabbit.  It is a story to share with all the family, full of quirky details, and witty observations of human foibles and contradictions.  The lively illustrations from Jim Field add a light touch too.  JC