Shelly's Book Blog

I suppose the humor in R. A. Spratt's The Adventures of Nanny Piggins is not for everyone, but I loved it. Nanny Piggins is (surprise!) a pig whose former job was being shot out of a cannon at a circus. She applies for the job of nanny to Derrick, Samantha, and Michael Green, whose father, Mr. Green, is so miserly he won't even pay for a proper advertisement in the newspaper when he finds himself in need of child care. He therefore hammers a sign on his front lawn that says, "Nanny Wanted: Enquire Within" and waits for someone to show up and take his children off his hands so he can spend more time at the office. Nanny Piggins is the only one who applies, and although Mr. Green would prefer a human, he hires her because she is willing to work for only ten cents per hour.

Nanny Piggins is no Mary Poppins. She allows the children to eat junk food, stay home from school, and generally do anything else traditional, human nannies would find appalling. The children, therefore, love her and greatly enjoy the adventures they experience with her.