a coming of age story about 4 children who stay with relatives in Norfolk while their father goes to America to start a new life for them. The protagonist gets a pig because she is lonely. The name is a take-off of the Peppermint pigs were candies made at Christmas to bring prosperity and wealth. This was a YA book. 189 pages ( )

A young girl, along with her mother and her brothers and sister, must move out of their nice London home and back to the countryside whence their parents came, while their father goes off to America to seek a new fortune. The story follows the family, through the eyes of 9-year-old Poll, for a year in the life as they adjust to their new circumstances and surroundings. There's also a pig involved.
A comfortable read, with lots of lovely details of rural Norfolk at the turn of the century, but it ended too abrupt and pat for me, I think. ( )

This book isn't about the pig; it's about the family that raises the pig. Told from the youngest child's perspective, it really tells how a family ought to act. The Greengrass family is not perfect, but they actively try to be good to one another. This is about people in all their mixed up complexity, even the side characters who at first seem all negative. Mama Greengrass and her sisters-in-law remember the good points and the difficulties of their neighbors, and teach the children sympathy, courage and honesty. In their small actions, each of the family make the world a better place. The story itself is unremarkable, but the life lessons it teaches are very precious. ( )

I could write about this book all day. Who knew this would be such an intriguing book? The cover didn’t lead me to think this. The title didn’t lead me to think this. But I knew from page one that this was a special book.

It’s a little story of a family that is set around the turn of the century. The father has to leave his job abruptly and decides to pursue a new career in America. The mother and four children are left in England, staying with two elderly aunts, while the father gets settled.

There’s lots in this little story...a ghost story...a friendship with an impoverished child...a long sickness...and, of course, a pig. ( )