"Some Pig!" Mercy Watson Collars Criminal!

Never hamper a hungry hog (or a peckish porcine, or a pig pining for toast), especially in the case of Mercy Watson.

Mercy is the preternaturally jolly pig who lives with her proud family, the Watsons, and loves nothing more than buttered toast. In Mercy Kate DiCamillo has another inimitable character. Known for her Newbery books Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and the spiritually moving The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, DiCamillo has proven that she can also write for the beginning chapter book reader with style and humor.

In the first of the trilogy, Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride,the Watsons take their pride-and-joy pig for a afternoon drive. When one of their eccentric old-maid neighbors, Baby Lincoln, is found stowed away in the back seat, Mercy takes advantage of the flap to commandeer the wheel of the pink-finned Caddy convertible and leads a pursuing policeman a merry chase. All's well that ends with buttered toast, however, and even Baby's crotchety sister Eugenia shares in the feast, although she is still of the opinion that "pigs should not live with people."

In the second book, Mercy Watson to the Rescue a lonely Mercy decides to bed down with the Watsons, causing a slight collapse of the second story flooring. Such a pending emergency necessarily calls for--what else?--buttered toast, so Mercy dashes next door to the Lincoln sisters to see if they might be making a midnight snack. After a bit of a kerfoofle with the Lincoln sisters, the long-suffering firemen arrive and rescue the Watsons, just in time for a late-night banquet of buttered toast.

Camillo's newest pig saga is Mercy Watson Fights Crime, in which Mercy awakes to a living nightmare. (Oh, no! Someone is stealing the toaster!) Mercy apprehends the thief, cowboy wannabee Leroy Tinker, purloining the appliances. When Leroy tries to tiptoe out, he trips and finds himself astride Mercy and riding her like a bucking bronco, complete with Yippie-i-ohs loud enough to wake be-curlered Eugenia Lincoln and her sister Baby next door. Again the long-suffering policeman and firemen arrive to find Mercy perching ponderously on the perp, happily eating his Butter Barrel candy. "This is an interesting job, isn't it?" says fireman Ned.

The evening ends with the usual group (and the suspect) assembling once again in the Watsons vintage 1950's kitchen,the toaster restored to the countertop, for a bracing taste of toast. "Why, everyone needs toast," says Mrs. Watson.

The gouache illustrations by Chris Van Dusen cheerily recreate the fifties' ambience, and the reading levels (Accelerated Reader 2.6 and 2.7) put these books in perfect range for the emergent chapter reader. Somehow I feel we may see more of Mercy Watson and buttered toast from Kate DiCamillo.