Customer Reviews
The meat, not the pudding. 
2008-06-25
This book is the antidote to the sugary-sweetness of _Charlotte's Web_ or _Babe_. Perhaps you hadn't noticed that either of these two were amazingly sappy. This book puts them in perspective as sugar-coated froth.
While sometimes melancholy, this book delivers a wonderful meal of a story. This tale is sure to nourish far more - and perhaps more realistically - than any tale of talking animals.
dark and humorous, meaningful and beautiful 
2008-05-26
A coming of age story for a young boy in 1920s rural Vermont, as he learns to run the farm and understand his father and his father's role. The book is a series of humorous tales and Robert's growing understanding of his world. He hunts, delivers calves, goes to the Rutland Fair, takes care of his pig, and eventually buries his father. A beautiful, funny, and moving tale. A graphic view of life on a farm might be too much for younger children. Grade: A+
WOW! This is such a heartbreaking book. 2008-05-19
This book is amazing because a boy of 12 years old has to help his father on their farm. The most shocking things happens to this boy. First he gets a pig from his neighbor, Ben, and he names the pig Pinky. Some funny events happen in this book too -- like the time, Robert vomits on one of the judges shoes at the fair. Many exciting things happen in this book that may astound you and your parents. I would recommend this book to children who like fascinating and heartbreaking stories. This book is entirely different than other books you may have read.
Sky, 8 years old and happily homeschooled!
A book that glorifies animal cruelty 
2008-05-07
I'd give this book zero stars if I could. It sends a message that "growing up" involves butchering pets. There is also dog abuse and a nasty pig rape scene. And this book is assigned to children? We should teach children to respect and care for animals. This book graphically depicts harming and in one case murdering pets.
Worth every minute 2007-10-08
What an eye opener for this generation! Welcome to the Shaker tradition of plain, earthy, reason. No frills. Where a man's word is second to his deed. I found this novel to be inspiring and humbling. Nowadays, we take so much for granted! Here is a family who earns or makes everything they have, and is gracious enough to consider themselves rich. Indeed they are - rich in faith, love, dignity, integrity, and community.
This is an important coming of age novel for many reasons. Robert Peck has to face challenges that many Young Adult readers face: increased responsibility, the wanting of worldly possessions, and death.
great book 2007-08-15
Originally published in hardcover in 1972,
A Day No Pigs Would Die was one of the first young adult books, along with titles like
The Outsiders and
The Chocolate War. In it, author Robert Newton Peck weaves a story of
a Vermont boyhood that is part fiction, part memoir. The result is a moving coming-of-age story that still resonates with teens today.
Beautiful, sometimes painful, but hey, so is life. Even for kids. 2007-04-12
I read this book when I twelve. It was not assigned reading from school; my aunt had a copy, and I helped myself. When I finished, I gave my aunt back her book and never read it again. I didn't have to. It was a part of me.
I lived the days of the story with Robert. Yes, some are country-slow, but they are richly described and absorbing, even when relating trivialities. (Think "To Kill a Mockingbird".)
I was horrified (as was Robert, the boy who is the main character) at the bloody images of the dog and weasel, but what *stayed* with me afterwards was the remorse of the dog's owner, and his declaration that, conventional wisdom be damned, he would never "weasel" a dog again. A clear lesson in self-determination in the face of tradition, more forceful because it was a grown man making the mistake and painfully learning from it.
Robert's visceral reaction to his pet being violently bred made him more real in my eyes, more vulnerable, and his bitter sense of filial obligation in cooperating with the process made me empathize even more. It's a tricky, sometimes powerless place, being that young.
But interwoven through the plainly portrayed harshness and casual brutality of rural poverty is the still beauty and serenity of a farm family in the 30's. The quiet father, who butchers hogs by hand, carves his son a whistle with the greatest care.
I don't know what the target age for readers of this story is. I have seven and nine year old daughters. I won't give it to them yet, but I think in two or three years I'll be adding it to their library. I was actually shopping for a copy to give to a grown-up friend. We had been talking about books that had made us cry.
True, Fascinating Story 2007-02-26
Every boy dreams about owning their own animal. Robert Peck's dream comes true when he receives a pig for helping a neighbor, but while growing up in a Shaker household he can't afford to do many things. By getting Pinky, his pig, he is able to experience things he has never done before. Amidst all the fun, Robert needs to become a man, and learn what it takes to do so.
This book is fantastic 2007-01-23
I'm currently in seventh grade and just finished reading this story for a English assignment
My entire class loves it, and it really does get into you.
I've read other reviews that have talked about 'how this is a horrible book for you kids'
I do slighlty agree to this opinion but middle school students should be mature enough to read this.
The book is mainly about Growth in Rob
From being immature,
Then Rutland fair,
Then he becomes a full man.
I deffinitly recommend other english teachers to share this story with their class.
If This is Great American Lit, Count me out! 2007-01-07
Well, I read this "gem" because my 8th grader had to for class. Was the pig-rape scene or the graphic butchery of a beloved pet the most disgusting part? I guess it's supposed to show historical life in rural Vermont but I sure could have lived without it. "Becoming a Man"?? There are far better books out there than this that can fit that bill. Long before my daughter remembers any "lessons" of this book, I'm sure the lingering descriptions of the rivers of blood and stench will stick with her. Plus, inbetween the great lessons we got about pig farming/butchery it's a pretty dull story.
