Ladybird Tuesday - The Old Woman and her Pig

The Old Woman and Her Pig is part of the Ladybird Series 606D. Although the Series is titled 'Well Loved Tales', I must admit that this story is a new one to me! It was published in 1973. They are graded in terms of reading difficulty and this book is in Grade 1, the easiest level. Even so it still seems quite a challenging book to me, it's certainly not aimed at very early readers.

The story is about an old woman who finds a crooked sixpence, which means good luck. She uses the money to buy a pig, but on the way home the pig refuses to jump over the stile. So she calls upon a dog to bite the pig to make him jump over the stile, but the dog refuses. The story continues as the women searches for ways to build a string of stubborn animals and inanimate objects which will set in motion a chain of events culminating in the pig jumping over the stile. 

The nature of the story means that it has plenty of repetition, as each required action is repeated several times. It's also a way of telling quite a complicated story in just a few words, making it appealing to young readers. In the end, everything works out as it should, and the woman is able to get home with her pig. 

This is another great book to share with children today, I know that my son will enjoy reading it as it's just the right level for him. The illustrations are fantastic too, the expressions of the characters are just brilliant, they really capture the emotions!

If you love Ladybird books, do pop over and visit Ladybird Tuesday, where Being Mrs C is assembling a really comprehensive catalogue of Ladybird books and reviews.

Below you can find links to all my Ladybird Tuesday book posts.

Snow White and Rose Red
Hansel and Gretel
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Three Little Pigs
The Old Woman and her Pig
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Railway Children
A Little Princess
A First book of Aesop's Fables

A Ladybird Book about Knitting
More Things to Make - For Special Occasions
Easy to Make Puppets
Learning to Sew
Stamp Collecting
Tricks and Magic

Prehistoric Animals and Fossils
Dinosaurs
Stone Age Man in Britain
Great Civilisations - Crete
Charles Dickens
Nelson
Lives of the Great Composers Book 1
Lives of the Great Composers Book 2
The Story of Music

Plants and How They Grow
The Ladybird Book of the Night Sky
Sea and Air Mammals
The Farm

The Story of Nuclear Power
The Motor Car
How it Works - The Computer
How it Works - The Rocket
The Story of Ships
The Postman and the Postal Service
People at Work - The Nurse

Understanding Numbers
Talkabout Clothes
Going to School
Teaching Reading

Stories of Special Days and Customs
Christmas Customs

Girls and Boys - A Ladybird Book of Childhood