The Christmas Pig

Dur Pig belongs to a little boy named Jack.

Dur Pig (DP) has been loved so well that he is greyish instead of pink, his eyes have fallen off and been replaced by buttons, and one ear is stiff from being sucked on. He has been left in the yard, dropped in a puddle, thrown in the recycling bin, and buried at the beach (temporarily.) But he's always there for Jack.

One day, Jack's dad and mom fight, and Jack's dad walks out. In the course of the story, Jack's mother begins dating again, and after a year of dating a man named Brendan, she informs Jack that they will marry. Brendan has a daughter named Holly who will now be Jack's stepsister.

One day after the wedding, as they are driving down the motorway and Jack and Holly are bickering in the backseat, Holly reaches over, grabs DP, and flings him out of the car window. Even though they stop the car and Grandpa goes back to search for him, DP is seemingly lost forever.

Trying to make up for her meanness,

Holly buys Jack a new pig for Christmas, the “Christmas Pig.” That night is Christmas Eve, and while Jack sleeps, he wakes in complete darkness to hear a conversation about finding DP in the Land of the Lost. His other toys are talking about rescuing DP, but it can only be done if Jack is brave enough. To rescue someone from the Land of the Lost, he first has to be located and then the Loser has to be outwitted. Also, this rescue can only be performed one night a year...Christmas Eve. The Loser, of course, rules the Land of the Lost and will devour anyone who enters without authorization.

Jack, surrounded by several other toys, makes a wish to go to the Land of the Lost on this, Christmas Eve, and then finds himself shrinking. To get there, he has to get lost himself, but this is not so hard when you're only eight inches tall. Jack and his friends find themselves lost and falling, falling into Mislaid, the part of the Land of the Lost that things go to when they've only been mislaid temporarily.

But DP doesn't seem to be in Mislaid, and he's not in Bother-It's-Gone, The Wastes of the Unlamented, or the City of the Missed either. Finally, Hope, like a harpie, scoops up Jack and the Christmas Pig (CP) and flies them to the Island of the Beloved. She drops them just off-shore, and Jack wades up onto the beach and finds DP there. But CP never made it; he in fact, returned to the Wastelands with hope. DP explains to Jack that in order for DP to return home with him, something or someone has to take his place, and CP has volunteered to be the one.

Jack is devastated; he thought they'd all be returning together. He realizes that he has come to love CP, not instead of DP, but in addition. Although it means he must leave DP here on the Island of the Beloved, Jack decides he must save CP from the Loser. Enlisting the help of Santa, Jack flies in the sleigh to the Wastelands, only to find that CP has just been captured and is being held in the Loser's Lair.

So with the help of his friends, Jack sets off to rescue CP. And time is running out!

The length of the book and its advanced side-subjects (divorce, remarriage, stepsiblings) belies its early childhood interest in beloved “stufties,” as they're called at my house, which is problematic. A child young enough to have a strong bond with a “lovey” may or may not be ready for the picture of divorce and remarriage presented here, or for the length of this tale.

Despite its Dante-esque setting, with its circles of “lostness,” the Christmas Pig is dull and lifeless for the first ¾ of the book. The characters seem insubstantial and the story inconsequential. The not-very-well-blended-family dynamics are painful to read about. Then, just about the time Santa arrives to help out, the story is “saved by the bell,” as they say, with an ending that is full of hope and the resurrection of many lost things. So while it did feel like a slog through the first ¾ of the book, I'm glad I read it.

If you are reading this and haven't started yet, you can decide if you want to start.

But if you've already started and are wondering whether to continue, I'd recommend you do. Many young children will make connections here, I think, to the gospel message. The reconciliation of Jack and Holly is perfectly satisfying, and the bond between Jack and CP at the end of their adventure may or may not cause a trickle from your own eye. The strong themes of love, self-sacrifice, and restoration make it worth it in the end.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS:

A husband and wife are divorced. The wife starts dating again and, when she is remarried, stepchildren arrive. Step-siblings are terribly unkind to each other.

The new husband fights with his ex-wife.

Jack has a temper tantrum after DP is lost and another when he is given the Christmas Pig.

Santa Claus is a character. The Loser, dragon-like in his lair, munches lost toys.