Lady Lollipop

Lady Lollipop was written by Dick King-Smith and illustrated by Jill Barton. It was published in 2000 by Scholastic Inc. It is realistic fiction.

This is the story of Princess Penelope, who is spoiled rotten because her parents, the King and Queen give her anything she wants. Her birthday is soon approaching and her parents have no idea what to get her. When they call her to ask she replies, "a pig!" Her parents are astounded, but they call all the pig herders in the land to bring their best pigs for the princess to choose from. She passes all the plumpest and prettiest pigs in the row and finally chooses a skinny, dirty pig. Her parents are appalled, but they agree and the boy who owns the pig and resembles the pig closely comes with them to take care of the pig and teach Penelope how to train her. The pigs name is Lollipop and Penelope quickly realizes that this is no ordinary pig. She immediately gets it into her mind that her pig should live in the palace with her, but her parents, especially her mother protest, loudly! Johnny, the pig herder, goes to work house-training Lollipop and quickly teaches her not only to use the bathroom outside, but also to wipe her feet before she comes into the house. The king is sweating because he cannot see how Penelope's pig and the Queen are going to live in the same house. Finally Johnny discovers that the Queen has a rose garden and also that Lollipop can be very good for roses. He teaches Lollipop to weed and till the dirt around the rose bushes and also to use the bathroom around the rose bushes because it is good for the roses. The King, Penelope and Johnny bring Lollipop to the rose garden one day for her to do her thing. They await the Queen's return from a Rose competition and when she comes home they explain everything to her about Lollipop. They show the Queen how Lollipop can till the ground and help the roses. They show her house Lollipop can go out of her pig flap in the door to use the bathroom and wipe her feet when she comes back in. The Queen is very impressed and she finally agress for Lollipop for live inside with Penelope. Johnny is given a job working with the Queen in her rose garden and is granted Dukedom for his help with Lollipop. Lollipop is granted Ladyship because of her affect on Penelope. After the whole experience, Penelope was not such a brat anymore and actually seemed to care for other people.

This is a fun story about a little girl who wants nothing but a pig for her birthday. I love that she is her own person and wants what she wants no matter what people have to say. I like Penelope much better after she is trained by Johnny and becomes and cute little girl and not such a brat. I really love the friendship formed by Penelope and Johnny because they come from two different worlds, but they both share love for Lollipop. This is a great story about growing up and overcoming selfish wants and being spoiled.

I think this is a great story for little girls, and boys who are going through a selfish phase. Little people, often do not realize the way they are acting and this is a good story to maybe bring this to their attention. This is also a great book to teach kids about taking care of pets. All kids want animals of their own and they promise to take care of them, but this story really shows the training aspect of animals. Over all this was a really cute story about a Princess and a Pig!