Nanny Piggins and the pursuit of justice by R.A. Spratt
Random House, 2012. ISBN: 9781864718164.
Highly recommended for ages 8 and up. When Nanny Piggins is taken to
court for tight rope walking between two buildings, in a quest for
chocolate cake, she is ordered to complete five thousand hours of
community service. She accepts her punishment in good grace and
first visits the Golden Willows Retirement Home to 'talk' to the
residents whose television has broken down. Naturally, the
irrepressible Sarah Piggins takes it upon herself to entertain them
in her own inimitable style with unexpected consequences. Later, she
displays her exceptional skills as a fortune teller, the driver of
the school bus and an agony aunt. Along the way, she battles memory
loss and a challenge to her accomplishment as 'The World's Greatest
Flying Pig'.
Each chapter in the book could exist as a stand-alone episode with
Spratt's writing incorporating entertaining situations and
vocabulary which is aimed at competent readers. The author has a
quirky sense of humour and her descriptions of the settings and
characters made me chortle loudly on occasion, particularly as she
describes libraries and librarians! This title would make a
thoroughly entertaining novel to use as a read aloud in class,
holding plenty of appeal to boys and girls alike. Spratt has created
a winning recipe in this series and each book has managed to engage
the reader with Nanny Piggins being the adult with whom every child
would love to live. I find her lack of rules and flouting of
authority to be especially amusing, and I imagine most children
would agree.
Jo Schenkel