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Emmett, a young pot-bellied pig, falls out of a truck and is abandoned by the side of the road. He is scared and lonely and associates being a pig with everything bad. But when he is taken to Fosterland, he meets a kind older kitten who thinks he too is a kitten and Emmett determines to do everything his new kitten friend does. Jez, despite pretending to be much more experienced and wiser, is only a very young kitten himself, living at Fosterland after losing a hind leg, and the two build a friendship that is sometimes complicated by their physical differences.
The two eventually learn to dream their own dreams and be true to themselves, and go to happy homes that fit them. An afterword explains the true story of the two animals and their happy-ever-after when they are adopted. Black and white illustrations show a sweet little pig and bouncing striped kitty on various adventures, occasionally accompanied by a bee that pops up throughout the story.
There seems to be a never-ending stream of books focusing on animal shelters and animal rescues. This one is a little different, with the possible name recognition of the author and the attempt to emphasize diversity and being true to yourself through the animals' interactions. I did not find the writing particularly memorable, but it's quite passable for a beginning chapter book and it's certainly cute.
Verdict: If you need more books in this genre, or have specific requests due to the author's name it could be worth getting. For my library, I have plenty of options for animal rescue chapter books and unless I get a specific request for this series I'll probably skip it. What would have made it stand out for me would have been a more nonfiction approach, like Kama Einhorn's True Tales of Rescue or Shaw's earlier nonfiction book about her kitten rescue.
ISBN: 9781665901192; Published June 2022 by Aladdin; Review copy provided by publisher
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