Patricia Montgomery Newton

Summary: This book is about 2 pigs, Lily who is going camping and Orlando who is going to the beach. Both pigs are so excited to ton on their vacations and talk about the things they are going to do while they are away. Lily talks about waking up with the sun, roasting marshmallows, going canoeing and climbing mountains while Orlando talks about sleeping in, having breakfast in bed, watching the sunset, looking at the waves and walking on the beach. Both pigs leave for vacation but the opposite of what they expect to happen actually occurs. Lily has problems with snakes, big fish, rocks while canoeing, bears and other wildlife after her s'mores. While Orlando is at the beach, it rains the whole time. Since it is raining he cannot do any of the things he planned to do. When the pigs return home, they both tell one another that they had a great trip.

Argument: I thought this book was a cute story, although kind of sad that neither pig had the vacation they wanted so badly. This book works a lot on opposites. While Lily wanted to wake up early, Orlando wanted to sleep in. Another example is that Lily wanted to catch and cook her own breakfast while Orlando wanted someone to bring him breakfast in bed. The use of opposites compares and contrasts the two different vacations since the vacations are opposites as well. This book also goes through the days of the week. It says what Lily did on Monday and then what Orlando did on Monday from start to finish of their vacations. This book had great illustrations that definitely enhanced the writing. I think some messages would have only been grasped from the pictures and not the words. For example, the writing never came out and said "It is raining on Orlando's vacation," but instead had a picture of Orlando in the rain. The illustrations were very well done and made the writing easy to understand.… (más)