DOWNFALL! Pig the Slob by Aaron Blabey

PIG WAS A PUG, AND I'M SORRY TO SAY,

WAS SHOCKINGLY LAZY, SUCH A SHAMEFUL DISPLAY.

HE LIVED IN A FLAT... HORIZONTAL POSITION,

WHICH LEFT HIM IN TRULY APPALLING CONDITION.

Yes, sadly Pig the Pug (a breed known to be fond of feeding) has become a devoted "couch potato" who lies day and night on the sofa, consuming comestibles constantly, downing mozzarella sticks and pizzas with a candy chaser, and exercising only when he changes the channel on his TV remote.

SWIPE. . . STARE. . . REPEAT!

His mild-mannered co-dog and sometimes friend Trevor, a timid but trim Dachshund, repeatedly warns him that he should change his ways, get off his fat bottom, and do some jogging. But the aptly-named Pig only grows more gross, and his sofa is more of the same, piled high with wrappers, paper cups, drinking straws, and assorted disgusting gnawed-upon bits of fast food.

HIS REPLY WAS QUITE TART.

HE SIMPLY SAID "NO," AND UNLEASHED A FART!

But Mother Nature, particularly as represented in the tensile strength of their apartment's flooring, has her limits, and in time nature follows its course (of course). The floorboards under Pig the Pug's sofa begin to fail, groaning and splintering and finally exploding beneath him, dumping Pig unceremoniously somewhere in the cellar with other disgruntled tenants. Luckily, Pig the Pug's well-developed avoirdupois serves well to soften his descent.

Will Pig the Pug ever change his greedy ways?

Well, sort of, in the noted Aussie humorist author-illustrator's Pig the Slob (Pig the Pug) (Scholastic Press, 2020.

Pig the Pug may work at physical conditioning diligently for a while, but in Aaron Blabey's laugh-out-loud picture books of this odd couple of dogs, Pig seems always to find, er, a new "avenue" for his greediness, much to the amusement of youngsters of preschool and primary grades. Blabey's best-selling rhyming tales of his odd pair of dogs include his trick-or-treat tale, Pig the Monster (Pig the Pug), his Christmas story, Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug), his Pig the Stinker (Pig the Pug), Pig the Tourist (Pig the Pug), Pig the Fibber (Library Edition) (Pig the Pug), and Pig the Winner (Pig the Pug). Couch potatoes and sofa snackers will relish these tasty tales of Trevor and especially Pig, who always gets his, um, just desserts! With plenty of titters and giggles along the way, Aaren Blabey's theme, that being greedy often leaves us needy, finds its mark.