The delightfully adventurous Jasmine Green series makes its Stateside debut with the adorable A Piglet Called Truffle. Spirited Jasmine is a veritable animal expert thanks to her farmer father, her veterinarian mother and all the inhabitants (including, ahem, her two siblings) that thrive on the family's Oak Tree Farm. When her mother goes to assist a bovine breech birth, Jasmine tags along for the promise of seeing Mr. Carter's pigs. "There's a sow just farrowed," ever-scowling Mr. Carter reveals. "Eleven, she's had." But visiting the sty, Jasmine discovers a 12th, "a poor little thing" too tiny to survive on its own. Convinced Mr. Carter would kill the runt, Jasmine commits a stealthy pignapping. (Thank goodness she's such an avid reader of her favorite magazine, Practical Pigs.) Jasmine knows she can't keep it a secret from her family for long, so what she really needs to do is convince her parents to let Truffle--named for the remarkable porcine ability to root out valuable mushrooms--stay.
Enhancing Helen Peters's farm adventures with whimsical illustrations, Ellie Snowdon charms with delightful black-and-white, penciled glimpses of pastoral fields, cozy kitchens and two- and four-legged friends. Peters (Evie's Ghost) balances her bucolic narrative with a few realistic reminders of inevitable loss, including a lamb that doesn't survive and a fox's fatal chicken coop attack. With at least three more Stateside installments scheduled, readers are guaranteed additional Jasmine rescues for needy creatures big and small. --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon