AUTHOR: Robert Newton Peck
ISBN: 0679853065
Plot Summary: It's 'Old Yeller' with a pig! A 13-year-old Vermont farm boy, whose father slaughters pigs for a living, takes on adult duties.
Word from the mouse: It was a small and poignant story that could help children learn both about the "Shaker" way of life, different from their own, as well as death and how people deal with it. That it's okay to cry. Everyone has their own different ways of mourning. Full Review
Complaints: Violence, sexual themes, offensive language
Pulled from the Anderson S.C. middle school library (1995) because of the descriptions of two pigs mating, a pig being slaughtered, and a cow giving birth. Banned from the St. Lawrence School in Utica, Mich. (1997) because of a passage involving pig breeding. The teacher quit her job over the banning of the novel.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Eww! Ick! I don't want to know where my pork chops come from, and I am sure my kids shouldn't either.