Mercy Watson Fights Crime

Mercy lives with the Watson family on an unassuming suburban street. Mr and Mrs Watson tuck her in to bed and sing to her before she goes to sleep.

            One night, Mercy wakes up and hears strange noises in the kitchen. A small-time thief has broken into the Watson's house and begins to steal things. Since toast with excessive amounts of butter is her favorite thing in the world, Mercy instantly recognizes the sound of the toaster being moved in the kitchen, and goes down to see who is making toast at this hour. Instead she surprises Leroy Ninker as he pilfers the kitchen appliances, including the cookie jar, and puts them in his sack.

            Mercy is disappointed to find that no one is making toast, so she lays down and goes back to sleep. Leroy Ninker puts one of his favorite butter candies in his mouth, then tries to step over Mercy to get away. But at this moment, the smell of butter fills her nostrils and she wakes up, stands up, and heads outside to see if the neighbors are baking sugar cookies, taking Leroy with her.

            As Mercy, with Leroy on her back, gallops across the yard, the neighbors are awakened by the hullaballoo, and call the police to report the disturbance. Mr and Mrs Watson are finally awoken by the noise, and when they discover Mercy is missing, they call the fire department to report it.

            Eventually, Mercy stops the thief, gets her reward, and the family is reunited. Mercy, the family, the neighbors, and the first responders all get their pictures in the paper, and Leroy decides to become a cowboy instead of a thief.

            Mercy is delightful! She is round and pink like a pig should be but she is also humble and a little bit bird-brained. Her antics seem like she's heading for trouble, but then everything comes round right. She delights in the simple things like toast with butter, and ends up being the accidental hero of the neighborhood.

            DiCamillo and illustrator Van Dusen have brought a sweet, fun-loving, single-minded pig to life. Some references are made to other incidents that Mercy has been involved in, which add interest to her story and may cause you to find the previous stories; this is the third in a series of six.  This author/illustrator duo have also written a similar series based on the other characters in this neighborhood, so there's plenty here to keep your emerging reader engaged for quite a while.

            Make some buttered toast or grab a bag of your favorite butter candies, snuggle up with your emerging reader, and enjoy the escapades of Mercy Watson! I dare you not to laugh!

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

none, since the thief is reformed

Mercy Watson made one of our booklists. See it here.