A Pig in the Palace

Chaos ensues when a wild boar dines at a palace in this slapstick social comedy by Bahrampour (Otto: The Story of a Mirror). Flea-ridden and hairy, mud-loving Bobo is “a lone boar who kept to himself in the forest.” “Why me?” he wonders upon receiving an invitation to meet the queen. Nerves set in (“Could he pick up a glass with his hooves?”), and things begin going wrong immediately: Bobo oversleeps, realizes too late that he should have worn clothing, and can’t help but wreak havoc at the castle. In Bahrampour’s action-filled pen, ink, and watercolor scenes, vases are accidentally broken, glasses are spilled, and Bobo is soon “hot-hoof”ing it through the architecturally detailed castle with guards in pursuit. Mayhem swells when Bobo slips on a pat of butter, crashing into plate-laden palace waiters and coming to a messy stop at the foot of the queen, whose identity has thus far remained a mystery. “Who made this mess?” she screams, and things look dire for hapless Bobo. Luckily, what occurs next offers a twist wholly befitting this madcap tale—a royally silly story of how sometimes when everything seems to be going wrong, it’s actually just right. Ages 4–8. [em]Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Oct.) [/em]