Greed is NOT Good! Pig the Elf by Aaron Blabey

Dear Santa,
May I please have something nice for Christmas?
--From Trevor
P.S. I love you so much!

Trevor, the humble little dachshund, has penned a modest little letter to Santa. But that other dog in the household is something else again!

Pig the Pug's Christmas list is a bit more... shall we say, extensive?

He'd written his list.
And he'd asked for a lot,
But Santa takes orders,
So why the heck not?

Pig is a pug who only wants one thing--MORE!

Pig's list is long--yards and yards long--with wishes for everything from a unicorn (real, not fake) to longer legs. And when Trevor dutifully points out that Santa won't come until they are abed, Pig is having none of his silly Christmas Eve rules.

"Sleep is for fools!
Sleep is for losers!
I won't go to bed
With the rest of you snoozers!

Pig the Pug stands guard by the twinkling tree, vowing to see that he gets his due. But the wait is tedious and Pig nods off a bit, waking to find a portly old guy depositing gifts in two equal piles, one labeled "Trevor" and one labeled "Pig." Pig the Pug in indignant!

"I asked for MORE!" shouted Pug,
Sounding very unkind.
Then he nipped poor old Santa's
Big rosy behind!

Santa tries to make his escape up the chimney, but Pig is pugnacious, his jaws clamped on Santa's derriere all the way to the rooftop sleigh. Santa orders his reindeer into the air, and they leap upward with Pig still dangling from the, er, rear.

Pig's selfish greed has indeed gotten him once more into a regrettable situation, in Aaron Blabey's Christmas cautionary tale, Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug) (Scholastic Press, 2017). Will Pig cool his ardor for acquisitiveness in the cold polar air, or will he meet his long overdue downfall this time? Author Blabey has just the right ending in store for his greedy pug pup, and kids will giggle with glee at the irony of Pig's comeuppance, (although secretly they may hope that Pig the Pug won't totally reform before the next book is written). Blabey's jolly quatrains rhyme their way merrily through this little morality tale, while his illustrations are just as over-the-top hilarious as ever, with both front and back endpapers fittingly filled with Pig's avaricious wish list.

Other popular picture books about Pig are Pig the Pug, Pig the Winner (Pig the Pug), and Pig the Fibber.