If You Give a Pig a Pancake
by Laura Numeroff

If you give a pig a pancake, watch out! she'll want some syrup to go with it. And, of course, she'll get all sticky from the syrup and want a bath. Baths are never complete without rubber ducks, and of course ducks lead to wanting a trip to the farm.

One absurd idea leads to another, with this energetic porker putting on tap shoes, getting her picture taken as she balances atop the furniture, and sending the pictures to her friends.

On the way to mailing the pictures, she spots a tree, so she wants to build and decorate a treehouse. Wallpapering the tree house leads to sticky hands, which remind her of syrup, which of course leads full circle back to pancakes.

At the end of the story, the house is a sight to behold, and the little girl who supplied the pancake and all the other stuff is exhausted. But our exuberant pig is all set to go a second round!

If you give a child this book, she's going to laugh uproariously, and ask for more such funny stories. And the author gladly obliges. This is one of a series of "If You Give..." books, all exploring the hilarious consequences of innocuous acts of kindness - for example, if you give a mouse a cookie or if you give a moose a muffin.

If you're looking for bedtime stories for kids, this one's a sure winner. Parents and children will enjoy the increasing mayhem the pig creates as she sweeps inexorably from one activity to another. Doesn't this remind you of the chaos some kids create, that adults have to pick up after them?

Use this role-reversal story to help children understand how parents feel when they have to clean up after them, and the benefits of everyone doing their part to keep things neat and clean. On the other side of the coin, of course, are the kids who are too obliging for their own good; use this story to help them learn to say "no".

This is one of the most popular children's books, with 1 million copies sold worldwide. Get your copy from:

This book contains 4 "If You Give..." stories, including If You Give a Pig a Pancake:

Other books in this series:

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