It is about a boy named Wendell who has a very messy room and he likes it that way. It is an enjoyable, amusing, and imaginative picture book. Mark Teague created this impressive story named Pigsty. Students ask questions such as 'How many total pigs were in his room?' 'Why did Wendell's mom not clean his room?' 'Where were the pigs sleeping?' 'What did the pigs chew up?' I've used this book when teaching R2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Teachers could also use this book to demonstrate how a character can change from the beginning of a story to the end. Every time Wendell's room gets messier another pig shows up, yet mother never seems to notice. For example, the pigs eat snacks using their hooves in Wendell's bed, jump on his bed, hog the blankets (Get it? Hog?), play Monopoly and make phone calls. In this book the animals take on human traits. Teachers 1-4th could use this book in class to demonstrate what type of books are fantasy. She does not even make an appearance at the end of the book, but the magical pigs do.

I only gave this book 4 stars though because I did not like that mother only had one role in the story which was to nag about a dirty room and then later having the boy asking his mom to clean his room. I think children will enjoy this book because they can relate to having a messy room and not wanting to clean it. Every time Wendell's room gets messier another pig shows up. There are pigs that only Wendell can see living in his pigsty of a room.

Pigsty by Mark Teague