Mercy Me: Mercy Watson Stars in a Picture Book

I’m a HUGE fan of the Mercy Watson early reader series written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. So I literally gasped when I learned that Mercy the darling pig is now starring in her very own picture book! Thank you to Kate, Chris, and Candlewick for bringing us A PIGLET NAMED MERCY.

In the Mercy Watson early readers, Mercy is already a treasured member of the Watson family. Mr. and Mrs. Watson refer to her as their porcine wonder and feed her endless amounts of hot, buttered toast. In a PIGLET NAMED MERCY, DiCamillo  introduces readers Mr. and Mrs. Watson before Mercy enters their lives, showing how they are lovely, ordinary people who wish for something more. While the piglet’s arrival at Deckawoo Drive is purely accidental, she is the answer to their prayers: their lives are ordinary and predictable no more! Mercy’s arrival also upends the lives of next-door neighbors Baby and Eugenia Lincoln. 

Mercy is so popular, she has her own website: www.mercywatson.com. Kids and their parents can even sign up for the Mercy Watson Hot Buttered Toast Fan Club for “Porcine News Flashes” and “Deckawoo Downloadables.” The website offers vocabulary, games, creative writing tips, and lots of other fun activities.

If you haven’t been exposed to Mercy’s wonderful world, make sure you rectify that right away. I guarantee that any of these books will make you grin for a week – whether you’re 2 or 102. If you’d like to learn more about author Kate DiCamillo, click here. For more about illustrator Chris Van Dusen, click here.

I’ll finish on a personal note: when I showed my 16-year-old son A PIGLET NAMED MERCY he said, “I remember these characters!” Are you already a fan of the porcine wonder? I’d love to hear from you.