A Day No Pig Would Die

Peck, Robert Newton. A Day No Pig Would Die. 1972. 160p. ISBN 0394482352. Available both on the library shelves at FIC PEC and on Overdrive as an ebook and audiobook.

Involved in a fight at school, Rob flees and returns home to the farm. Crossing his neighbor’s field, he comes across one of their cows, who is having trouble giving birth. Ignoring his own safety, Rob assists the cow and delivers two calfs. In the process he loses both his pants and gets seriously injured.

Recovering from his wounds, Rob is offered a newborn pig from the neighbor for saving his cow and her two babies. Rob’s father, a true Shaker, first refuses to accept the gift, saying that Rob did what any neighbor would do, but eventually he relents and Rob becomes an animal owner. This animal changes Rob’s life.

His parents have lived on this farm for a long time, slowly paying it off until they own it outright. Rob’s father works as a butcher of hogs, and every day he comes home smelling of pig. With his father’s help, Rob raises the piglet. Still working hard on the farm, and not so hard at school, Rob is invited by Mr. and Mrs. Tanner, who offered him the pig, to go with them to Rutland for the agricultural fair where his pig is to be entered. And, to Rob’s surprise, he wins a ribbon, but passes out from the excitement and exertion.

Back home, his father tells him a terrible secret. The old man is sick, and knows he does not have much time left to live. Rob, as the only male in the family, will need to take over and becomes the man of the household. So, it is with trepidation mixed with fear that Rob gets ready for the biggest change in his life, when comes the day that no pigs would die.

This tale of growing up and transitioning to adulthood goes well with The Chocolate Wars.