Category Archives: Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils

Book Club Review of Angry Pigs

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apoagWe belong to a book club called “Denver Read and Feed,” and the club takes turns selecting a fiction book for everyone to read and hosts a meeting with a sit down meal to discuss the book or whatever else anyone wants to share. It was my turn, and the book I selected was “Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils: The Farmer Island War.” I am the author of that book and Andrew Brown, one of the four grandchildren listed in the book as “Creative Staff and Illustrators” attended the meeting. (The other three grandchildren are Davis K. Hobbs, Clayain M. Hobbs, and Campbell E. Brown.)

One tradition of the club is for each of the members to record their comments about the book in the “official record” and to rate it from one to ten, with one being pathetic and ten being excellent. I’ll turn over the review to the members after noting that Cathy and Tara were unable to attend, but Tara provided comments and a score by email.

Steve—What can I say, I loved the book. The story was original and well structured. The illustrations were very creative as well. Great book…8

Paul—This inspired me to look into publishing one of my own books. Great collaborative effort with the grandkids. I really liked the rat and pigeon spies. It surprised me that the kids wanted there to be killed animals in the book, but kids are more precocious that I was at that age. Good job. 7

Barb—Good story and delightful idea to co-write a book, granddad and grandchildren. 7.5

Steph—My favorite part of the book is the collaboration between the generations in making the book. My favorite part of the story is when the pigs matured (evolved) enough to realize they didn’t need war to fix a problem. 7

Frank—I think the story of how the book came about was at least as good as the book. I liked the escalation of the story and how the conflict was eventually resolved. Great illustrations as well. 7

Sally—Very interesting story about war and pigs. I liked the kid-friendly treatment of topics that were, frankly, above my head. I am interested to see where the story goes—next time, more character development would make it even better. Great illustrations and collaboration! 8.5

Farrel—Of course I loved this book, since I wrote it with the grandkids. 10 (of course!)

Sheryl—Cute book—nice story—painful to watch the person write—a fun and easy read. 7.5

Tara—I absolutely loved that you got your grandchildren involved in doing a book with you. What an amazing and powerful experience for them…! On content…my favorite part was the illustrations. They are so charming, intuitive and well done. I would have liked to have been there last night to tell the illustrator(s) personally. 🙂 I agree they should be darker in the next one, if only to make their specialness more apparent. The storyline had proper conflict and a positive resolution, which was important to this story. If I had any constructive criticisms…it would be to include more storyline detailing the characters themselves and their relationships with others. That being said, however, I loved the book!!! 10

Andrew—I think the book could have used a few more explosions, but overall, I really loved the book and my first time in book club. I also had a great time writing it with my grandad. 9 (Andrew was pleased  that several book club members had him autograph his illustrations.

The composite score was 7.8, which is higher than the overall average for books read and rated by the members. Farrel and Andrew’s ratings were not included in that result. 

Information about the sequel is included in the “Continuing Adventures” link on our web site.

Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils: The Farmer Island War

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apoagThis review is about what may turn out to be my favorite book of all time. The reason is that I am the author and our four grandchildren are the Creative Staff and illustrators. The grandchildren are, in order of age, Andrew, Davis, Clayain, and Campbell. The intriguingly creative Angry Pigs book is the product of sharing ideas with those grandchildren and is, according to one reviewer, “An entertaining and well-illustrated book.”

Why in the world did pigs organize against gerbils, and why were they angry? The gerbils that had been farm pets did not prepare for the future when the Old Farmer, the only remaining human caretaker of the isolated farm, died. The pigs recognized that the animals had to grow food to survive, but the gerbils resorted to declaring war after the pigs refused to surrender their supplies of corn. The pigs became angry when the gerbils began using lethal weapons.

The pigs form a military organization and develop weapons to respond to the threat. They gain allies from other animals, including secret spies. The pigs also gain honor and respect as they bravely face danger together, and learn compassion is more rewarding than anger.

We are confident that you will enjoy this entertaining story and encourage you to order the book here. We also encourage tell your family and friends about the book, forward them the link to the book, and write a “customer review” on Amazon.com. We don’t think you will be able to resist ordering the book when you see the intriguing cover art that was developed by Keith Motyl, our publisher.

You also might also be interested that we have begun a web site to highlight the book and to post information about pigs and gerbils and describe the upcoming and continuing adventures of the animals on Farmer Island.

Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils: The Farmer Island War

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This posting is about a book that has been a fun family project. I am listed as the author and the four grandchildren are listed as Creative Staff and Illustrators. I am confident that readers will agree that the Creative Staff were indeed creative and that the illustrations range from cute to clever. One reviewer commented it is “An entertaining and well-illustrated book.” For those wondering what ages would be appropriate to read the book, the Creative Staff and Illustrators are 6-12, and we think the creativity of the book makes it appropriate for anyone young at heart.

Why the strange title? Why did pigs need to organize against gerbils, and why did they become angry? The gerbils that had been farm pets did not prepare after the Old Farmer, the remaining caretaker of the isolated farm, died. The pigs recognized that they had to grow food to survive, and the gerbils resorted to declaring war after the pigs refused to surrender their supplies of corn. The pigs become angry when the gerbils resorted to using lethal weapons.

The pigs form a military organization and develop weapons to respond to the gerbil threat. They gain allies from other animals, including secret spies. The pigs also gain pride and respect as they bravely face danger together and learn compassion is more rewarding than anger.

There are several positive messages in the book. The pigs are rewarded for their industry while the gerbils pay a price for their failure to prepare for the future. The pigs use their intelligence to organize and prepare to defend their barn, their families, and their food supplies when the gerbils declare war. However the pigs are not arrogant about their intelligence; they recognize that other animals have strengths and abilities that are also quite admirable. The pigs also learn that facing danger strengthens their mutual respect.

We think you will find this an entertaining and heartwarming story that you will want to share with friends and family. We also think clinking on the link and looking at the intriguing cover will increase your interest.

You also might be interested that we have begun a web site to highlight the book and to post information about pigs and gerbils and to describe upcoming and continuing adventures of the animals on Farmer Island.