1. Animals
2. Anxiety
3. Bravery
4. Death
5. Grandparent and child
6. Sadness

The jacket cover for this 20th year anniversary edition of ‘Old Pig’ proclaims it is a story about ‘Living, Loving, Giving and Receiving’. It also a story about death although never explicitly stated. There is a long tradition in children’s literature to feature animals, rather than humans, when a topic or story may cause anxiety. Margaret Wild sensitively manages emotional moments with lyrical phrasing while Ron Brooks complements the story with delicate, light colours and soft pencil hand-lettered text. In his memoir, ‘Drawn from the Heart’ (Allen & Unwin 2010) Ron Brooks provides detailed insights into his inspiration for the story.

His watercolour illustrations capture the story’s mood and tone with his interior scenes of Old Pig and Granddaughter eating, preparing food and going to bed. These, along with his delicately detailed landscapes, convey comfort and serenity. There is no intention of hiding the topic of death and the preparation for it. Instead, slowly Granddaughter, and the reader too, accept Old Pig’s future departure. Old Pig sleeps longer, eats less, returns library books, pays bills and gives money to Granddaughter. Together they walk slowly around the garden appreciating its beauty and sense of life continuing.

For deeper analysis there are symbols of death, never overdone, such as a boat crossing a river, night turning to dawn and seasonal changes. ‘Old Pig’ is multi-layered and invites multiple readings to soak in the essence of this gentle, unforgettable story. Multi-award winning and widely translated, ‘Old Pig’ deserves its classic stature.

1. Victoria State Government, ‘Meet Illustrator Ron Brooks’ https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Resource/LandingPage?ObjectId=fd57b85f-9c47-415e-b4b9-df74c0091d98
2. Kids’ Book Review, ‘Interview: Margaret Wild’, 30 Apr 2011 http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2011/04/interview-margaret-wild.html
3. ‘Congratulations to Margaret Wild’, by Momo, an overview of the author’s well-known books, 18 Mar 2020 http://momotimetoread.blogspot.com/2020/03/congratulations-to-margaret-wild.html
4. Boomerang Books Blog, ‘Love and Life: Picture Books for Mums’, review of ‘Old Pig’ 11 May 2017 https://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/tag/margaret-wild
5. Stephanderson23’s Blog, ‘Describe the language features of the picture book, ‘Old Pig’, 3 Aug 2013 https://stephanderson23.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/describe-the-language-features-of-the-picture-story-book-old-pig/
6. Reading Time review by Liz Anelli of ‘Old Pig’, reissued edition, 20 Mar 2017 http://readingtime.com.au/old-pig/
7. Copyright Agency Reading Australia features ‘Old Pig’ with author and illustrator profiles and comments on the story https://readingaustralia.com.au/books/old-pig/