If you have never read Rascal by Sterling North, stop what you are doing right now. Seriously, stop. Go! Read that and then come back here. Really, go read Rascal. I will wait. (And by the way, we have an excellent book club guide for Rascal, here.)
Have you read it? Ok, good. Do you remember how Sterling stays with his aunt and uncle on their farm for a few months with Rascal? I think that this story, Greased Lightning, must have been conceived of when remembering that visit.
Greased Lightning by Sterling North and illustrated by Kurt Wiese is a little bit Rascal, a lot Charlotte’s Web, and everything good about a boy picture book. I found this gem buried on a shelf with questionable (both in content and condition) old books at one of my local thrift stores. I saw that it was North and I bought it without even opening it up. The cover and author convinced me that even if it was moldy and gross it would still be worth a read. Once I got it home and inspected it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in excellent condition and even better than I had hoped.
Dedicated to David and Arielle (Sterling North’s children), this 1940 story is everything that is lovely about a picture book of that time. Zeke and his father are counting the newest litter of pigs. But the little runt just wouldn’t stay still long enough to be counted. That little one was a runner!
“Twelve little pigs and the runt,” said Zeke’s father.
“That makes thirteen,” said Zeke.
”Nope,” replied the farmer, winking at Zeke’s mother. “That last one ran around so fast I couldn’t count him.”
The farmer refuses to count the little number thirteen because he knows that runts “eat like elephants and don’t get any bigger than hound dogs.” Zeke is outraged. He names the pig Greased Lighting and becomes completely attached to the loud and trouble-making little runt. Greased Lightning picks fights with the other pigs, escapes through fences, roots up tomato plants, and is always in one kind of trouble or another. And, as Zeke’s father predicted, he never does grow like his litter mates. Zeke is devastated when his parents sell the pig at the market.
Zeke cannot bear to think of his pet being sold at the market to be harvested into bacon. After his father leaves for town, Zeke sneaks onto his pony and quietly follows his father. At the market, Zeke hides so that his father won’t see him, but stays where he can see and hear what is happening to Greased Lightning.
At the market, “a big, fat, ugly-looking man dressed in a blue serge suit and a derby hat” buys Greased Lightning for the 4th of July greased pig race. The boy who catches the pig gets to keep him. Zeke hides in the crowd of boys and enters into the contest. I will let you guess how it all turns out.
There is a Rascal-like quality to this story that delights and entertains the reader throughout. It also feels a bit like Farmer Boy and Little Britches. Zeke sneaking into town without his parents knowing is something that a kid like that might have done, but it may bother some parents that Zeke doesn’t get into any trouble over it.
The librarian at Liberty School Library who prepared this book for lending in 1961 marked this as suitable for readers in grades 3-4. The illustration alternates between black-and-white sketches and full-color pages. This is a charming book that will give children an exciting window into a time gone by.