When it comes to picture books there are a special few author/illustrators who through their extraordinary talent and dedication, coupled with their uncanny ability to think and see like a child, can be considered truthfully as masters of their craft. Beatrix Potter, Theodor Geisel, Babette Cole, Pam Allen and Eric Carle are just some names from this select group that immediately spring to mind. Deservedly rubbing shoulders with such luminaries is Yorkshire-born Anthony Browne, without whose contributions to the annals of children’s literature the world would be a slightly colder, far less fun sort of place.

With Piggybook, Browne demonstrates his remarkable ability to tell a story through succinct words and lavishly detailed illustrations, and to breathe into that story a life that continues long after the last page has been turned. It is a story familiar to all working parents but at its heart it is a story in particular for all women who have ever lived in a household dominated by the males they love, in all their sluggish, inconsiderate and self-obsessed splendor.

Copyright 1986 Anthony Browne. From Piggybook by Anthony Browne. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ.

Mr Piggott and his two sons live their comfortable home-lives in which their food, cleaning, and all the other institutions necessary for day-to-day life happen as if by magic upon demand from the long-suffering Mrs Piggott. They are rarely seen without their mouths wide open impatiently requesting service so that their terribly important lives can continue unhindered by banal chores. One evening, upon their return home the Piggott men find that the woman they have ungratefully relied on for so long has abandoned them, and immediately their true natures are made apparent.

Struggling to produce food for themselves, failing to understand the concepts and execution of cleanliness and housekeeping they are forced to come to terms with the fact that they are, in fact, pigs. In very little time they are reduced to rooting around on the floor of their now-filthy house for food, grunting and squealing and becoming increasingly distressed by their impotence.

Copyright 1986 Anthony Browne. From Piggybook by Anthony Browne. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ.

But it is not just the men who have become pigs, for after the horrible moment when they realise they must endeavour to fend for themselves, the evidence of their piggy lives emerge through the masterly illustrations from everywhere. The tulips on the wallpaper, the pictures on the wall, the tiles, the doorknobs, the teapots and trees, all of these things are now, if you look close enough, transformed into pigs. This is one of those books whose significance grows with each re-reading and an enduring pleasure is to be found for both parents and children alike in discovering just how many pigs are hidden within the pages. The genius of Browne’s attention to detail is further made apparent with a craftily concealed reference to the three little pigs story, reinforcing the hopelessness of the Piggott’s predicament in a manner unattainable by words alone.

Needless to say, when Mrs Piggott arrives home to her charges (after an unspecified length of time but quite possibly, hilariously, a number of days of absence) they are reduced to begging her to stay. Though now no longer pigs, they remain transformed by their dreadful experience and will evermore contribute to the daily household chores equally and shower the formerly thankless Mrs Piggott with the recognition and praise that she has always deserved.

Piggybook is a treasure, a modern fable to be cherished every time you sit down together and once again immerse yourselves within its wonderful pages, with the all-important message of recognition and respect.