Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey

Milway (the Mousehunter trilogy) steps into early reader territory with a book starring a pair of classic archetypes: the intrepid explorer and the put-upon assistant. In this case, the explorer is Pigsticks, a swoopy ovoid pig who resolves to travel to the Ends of the Earth like his ancestor Colonel Pigslet. “But unlike Colonel Pigslet,” thinks Pigsticks, “I’ll make it back alive!” He quickly conscripts a hamster named Harold into service (several promises of cake are involved), and the latter two-thirds of the book track their bumbling progress through jungle, desert, and mountain. Much like Harold with the team’s enormous gear pack, Milway’s ink illustrations (seen in b&w by PW) do some serious heavy lifting with regard to the storytelling; he uses 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. Ages 5–9. (May)