The Go-To Guy! Piney the Goat Nanny by Leanne Lauricella

THIS IS THE STORY OF A PIGLET NAMED PINEY.

PINEY WAS SMALL, STRIPED, AND ROUND AS A WATERMELON.

The adopted orphan Piney has an idyllic piglet-hood, playing in the sun with the little goats and sleeping snug inside in his comfy bed at night. But Piney's foster mom, who takes care of the farm animals, points out that all the animals on the farm have a job.

Piney wants a job like all the other animals, but he can't eat bugs like the chickens or chomp the weeds like the goats. He fails at helping with housekeeping when he gets hopelessly tangled in the vacuum cleaner cord. It seems the only thing he's good at is sleeping!

But when an abandoned goat kid turns up needing foster care, Piney pitches in by offering the little goat, hopefully named Prospect, a warm place beside him in his little quilted bed. Prospect thrives as Piney teaches him his other skill--eating-- and Piney the Pig takes charge when a little three-legged baby goat turns up. With Piney's attention and tutelage, the little kid grows fast and learns to gallop around like all the other little goats. But now poor Piney is out of a job again.

PINEY WAS SAD.

"I WISH I WERE A GOAT."

But Piney proves that he's got the right stuff to be the go-to goat when two more orphans, Lila and Chib, turn up, needing a warmhearted foster parent, and before long Piney finds fame and a lifetime job as other babies needing special help find success under his care, in Leanne Lauricella's second book in series, GOA Kids - Goats of Anarchy: Piney the Goat Nanny: A true story of a little pig with a big heart (Quarto Group, 2018).  Stories of cross-species nurturing have become quite common, and Lauricella's story of the pig who parents baby goats is a sweet and true one, As author Lauricella's appendix portrays, this is a true story of her famous goat farm in which even a pig can find a lifework in raising orphaned animals.  Lovingly illustrated by Jill Howarth's gentle, textured art, this one is the companion book to Lauricella's GOA Kids - Goats of Anarchy: The Goat with Many Coats: A true story of a little goat who found a new home (see review here). Says Kirkus Reviews, "The loving encounters among animals of different species (and Lauricella's real-world endeavor to help animals with special needs) are great examples to help children develop empathy."