Bertie is a self-centered and unpleasant pig. On his daily walks, he has only nasty remarks for everyone: the poodle has dreadful hair, the bear is looking old, and poor feline Joseph just plain smells bad. But clueless Bertie gets his comeuppance when he meets Ruby, a gorgeous long-eared yellow rabbit, at the cheese counter. Instantly smitten, he decides to impress her by throwing a huge party. Surprise, surprise! No one shows up. It's only after a nightmare, in which his sobbing toothbrush calls him a rotten hairy hog with stinking yellow teeth, does he realize how rude he's been. After writing many apologetic notes, Bertie does host a celebration, and he is a permanently changed porker. Cartoonlike line drawings and muted hues humorously render the animal characters, in particular, Bertie, with his overly large, red snout. The last two-page spread illustrates a happy feast showing tables of scrumptious food and happy animals imbibing and noshing. A surefire lesson for youngsters on niceness.--Gepson, Lolly Copyright 2010 Booklist

In this pointed outing, a pig who habitually insults everyone he meets has an epiphany after no one comes to his party. Readers after social or psychological complexity need not apply. The plot is as simple as it is simplistic of resolution. Having left, as usual, a trail of enraged passersby--"Dreadful hair today, Mrs. Harley!" "Without your annoying husband, Mrs. Block?" "Joseph! Your bad smell never ceases to amaze me!"--on his daily walk, Bertie changes his tune when he meets Ruby, "the cutest rabbit he had ever seen." Having complimented her ears, he rushes home to plan an elaborate party for her. Devastated when no one responds to his snotty invitations, he goes to bed, dreams of being berated for rudeness by his toothbrush, and remorsefully sends out revised invitations with apologies when he wakes. Mrs. Harley doesn't come (she "still held a grudge"), but everyone else does, and it's all a great success. Using a pale but high-contrast palette and surface textures of crayons and thickly brushed watercolors, Boldt fashions busy pastel backdrops for a pink pig with a big red nose. He struts past the all-animal cast to, eventually, a sumptuous party scene centered on pig and bunny making goo-goo eyes as they dance together. At best a discussion starter about rudeness, though children may be mildly amused by Bertie's snide disses. (Picture book. 6-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

FOR SOME ADULTS (including this reviewer), there are few more stressful words than "party." Just being invited to one stirs up all kinds of anxiety: Who will be there? What should I wear? Must I attend? And of course: How long am I required to stay? Children, however, have no such ambivalence. For theunder-12 set, all parties are equally wonderful. I have never met a child who expressed anything other than unalloyed enthusiasm when invited to one. They never ask who will be in attendance or what will be served. Except in the case of costume parties, sartorial questions are rarely fretted over. For a child, parties follow a predictable sequence of events: They are invited, attend, consume too much junk food, possibly vomit, return home, collapse. Oddly enough, this is exactly how adults party; yet somewhere along the way the process becomes less fun, until for many of us the idea of a party is only slightly less repellent than a trip to the oxymoronically named amusement park. But my ire toward those torturous places will have to wait for another review. Three new children's books celebrate parties, drawing different lessons from their promise. The Newbery Medal winner Linda Sue Park offers a sweet lesson on multiculturalism with "Xander's Panda Party," a gentle rhyming story in which Xander, a panda (best pronounced with a slight Brooklyn accent, as in "Xander the pander"), decides to throw a panda party, "a dandy whoop-de-do," but quickly realizes he is the only panda at the zoo. Because a party of one would not be any fun, he expands his guest list, first to all the bears at the zoo, then - quite illogically - upon learning that koala bears are actually marsupials, to all mammals, and eventually to every creature in residence. Although presents aren't exchanged at Xander's party, at book's end he does receive an unexpected surprise. The book's best present to its readers is Matt Phelan's expressive and delightful watercolors, my favorite of which is a deadpan assembly of Xander with a waddle of blank-faced penguins. Claudia Boldt's "You're a Rude Pig, Bertie!" explores the perils of the guest list from a different perspective, that of a boorish pig who has managed to offend nearly every animal in town. Bertie has never met anyone he could not insult: "Long time no see, Mrs. Breun. You look older!" is a typical greeting. Oblivious to hurt feelings, Bertie softens when he meets Ruby, "the cutest rabbit he had ever seen," and he decides to throw a huge party to impress her. Predictably, nobody shows up. Miserable, Bertie retires to bed, where he is visited in a dream by a vision of his toothbrush, which gives him a Jacob Marley-esque dressing down. Properly chastised, Bertie attempts to make amends with the townsfolk. Although a touch ham-handed, "You're a Rude Pig, Bertie!" offers young readers a lesson in the perils of porcine comportment and the power of love to change even the heart of a swine. A different sort of rascal is the star of the silly "Secret Pizza Party" Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri, the writer-illustrator pair behind the popular "Dragons Love Tacos," team up again to tell the tale of a pizza-loving raccoon's attempt to host a secret pizza party, the kind in which raccoons are considered guests of honor rather than disreputable pizza-stealing varmints. This laugh-out-loud story follows the unlucky raccoon through close calls with grumpy humans and broom-wielding robots alike. To my mind, picture books shouldn't be too educational, and readers are unlikely to learn anything from this one, though they will be reminded of the undebatable fact that pizza is among our greatest foods, and far and away the very best party food. One thing that does not change from childhood to adulthood: The best parties are pizza parties. This raccoon may not have the best table manners, but he certainly knows how to have a good time. From the whimsical to the absurd, young party animals will find much to enjoy in each of these books. Even I, as cranky a partygoer as ever there was, found myself inspired to strap on my dancing shoes after closing their final pages. These three beastly boys fight hard for their right to party, never questioning whether the effort is worth the trouble. Perhaps they believe that a good party is its own reward. It is a moral that certain adults would be well advised to take to heart. MICHAEL IAN BLACK is the author, most recently, of "You're Not Doing It Right," a memoir, and "I'm Bored," a picture book.

K-Gr 2-After admiring his own reflection, Bertie the Pig goes for a walk in town and hurls unnecessary insults at his neighbors along the way: "Dreadful hair today, Mrs. Harley!"; "Joseph! Your bad smell never ceases to amaze me!" etc. The porker is stopped in his tracks, though, when he sees a beautiful rabbit, Ruby, at the market, whom he instead compliments. Smitten, Bertie can think of nothing else. He decides to throw a party to impress her. Ruby, however, is not pleased that Bertie has insulted all of her friends. With everything set for the party, but no guests in attendance, Bertie cannot understand why no one has come. That night, he has a dream in which his toothbrush reveals the error of his ways: "You are rude. Nobody likes you!" Struck by this revelation, Bertie tries to make amends, but no one listens. It's not until he defends Ruby after Mr. Wolf insults her that he wins her affections. He writes apology letters to his friends and throws a second party, which has a better attendance rate. The simple colored pencil and watercolor illustrations have potential, but they are unable to carry the thin story line, which is neither fresh nor exciting. The truth-telling-toothbrush-in-a-dream sequence seems like a ploy for the purpose of a happy ending, and the comic-style layout for this one page would make for a cumbersome read-aloud. For a better "change of heart" story, try Mac Barnett's Mustache! (Hyperion, 2011).-Emily E. Lazio, The Smithtown Special Library District, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Self-centered and inconsiderate, Bertie the pig insults his neighbors with unkind comments: "Dreadful hair today, Mrs. Harley!" Bertie's rude behavior begins to shift when he meets a pretty rabbit, but it takes time for the damage to be undone, especially after he sends out some unwelcoming party invitations. Stylish pastel-colored illustrations are expressive, but the uneven narrative suffers from awkwardly structured sentences. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.