Review by Booklist Review
Excitable Peggy returns for a fourth outing, squaring off against an animate scarecrow in this lively take on a familiar folktale motif. After much fruitless shopping, Peggy finds the perfect outfit for an upcoming party. That it happens to be adorning a scarecrow doesn't stop her from filching it, and sailing home to primp. That night, however, there are footsteps on her stairs, and a repeated demand: Give me back my clothes! A short power failure later, Peggy is left stripped to her bloomers. Fright changes to annoyance when Peggy hears the scarecrow laughing out in the field, which gives her the courage to turn the tables. Thiesing uses deep blues and intense hues to give the cartoon illustrations an eerie tone, but neither Peggy nor the scarecrow, whose long nose and straw-tufted extremities give it a lionlike look, will frighten children any more than they want to be frightened. A funny take on an old favorite. --John Peters Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Peggy the pig needs something to wear to a party. She finds nothing that suits her in town, but on her way home she notices a scarecrow dressed in a wonderful outfit. So each night, she sneaks out to the cornfield and takes a different item, replacing it with one of her old garments. On the evening of the party-"a dark and stormy night"-she is decked out in her purloined finery when the scarecrow arrives and demands, "Give me back my clothes!" The plot is similar to that of "The Teeny-Tiny Woman." The difference is that Peggy returns to the field, scares the duds off the scarecrow, and reclaims the ensemble. This easy reader is sprinkled with colorful cartoon illustrations that depict the action and support the text. However, the story strikes an odd note as it seems to indicate that stealing is okay and, supposedly, even funny. While Thiesing's other "Silly Thrillers" about this character were genuinely amusing and revolved around her na?vet?, this one is not humorous or scary.-Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
After Peggy purloins a scarecrow's fancy outfit to wear to a party, the angry scarecrow--portrayed in suitably spooky illustrations--comes and snatches the clothes back, only to lose them to Peggy a second time. The story's logic is somewhat shaky; besides, it's much easier to sympathize with the scarecrow than with the thieving Peggy. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
