Tuesday Treasure
"The chickens and pigs were very polite to each other ... but the chicken never played with the pigs ... the pigs never played with the chickens either."
Things are happy on the farm but occasionally a fox breaks in and carries off a hen and this means the hens are not quite as happy as they could be. The fox does not worry the pigs and so all of them are perfectly happy. Well not quite all. Albert is not a happy pig. Albert is born white not pink like the other pigs. He is ridiculed and isolated. Luckily one day Albert meets Lila. Lila is an old hen and she is in danger from the farmer's cooking pot. The other hens won't help and the rooster chases her away. Albert and Lila become very special friends and together they are able to ignore the mockery and laughter of the hens and pigs.
One evening while they are sitting together gazing over the farm Lila sees the dreaded fox. She knows he is headed for the hen house. Albert has a brilliant idea. Lila opens the hen house door and Albert slips inside. Meanwhile Lila herself heads over the pigsty. When the fox looks in the broken window of the hen house he sees a huge pig. Albert explains to the fox:
"... we pigs are living here now. The chickens have been moved to what used to be the pigsty. ... but watch out, those chickens have put on a lot of weight recently."
The fox heads over to the pigsty. He takes a great leap and finds himself surrounded by kicking pigs. "This farm must be bewitched!' groaned the fox. 'The chickens have changed into pigs!"
Albert and Lila have saved the day. That fox will never return. The pigs are proud of Albert and the rooster thanks Lila but none of that really matters to our pair of friends who continue to enjoy life on this farm - together!
Albert and Lila is a wonderful trickster tale. Albert is a problem solver. That fox is a very real problem. It doesn't matter about the silly comments from the pigs and chickens, Albert and Lila are true friends and true friends help one another.
Have you ever thought about the ways you can identify a good book:
- The cover of course and this one is colourful and quirky.
- The creators - perhaps you know them perhaps you don't. In the case of Albert and Lila none of these names are familiar to me. I love researching authors and illustrators.
- The publisher - in this case it is North South and if I was making a list of top international publishers of children's book North South would be near the top of my list along with Nosy Crow, Andersen Press, Walker/Candlewick Books, Gecko Press, Chicken House, Penguin Random House and Dirt Lane Press.
- Books translated into English are often intriguing and different. Albert and Lila was originally published in Switzerland under the title Albin and Lila. The English edition was translated by Anthea Bell.
Rafik Schami was born in Syria. He moved to Germany when he was 25 and taught himself to write in German. His book A Handful of Stars won the Mildred L Batchelder Award in 1991. In 2018 Albert and Lila was made into a play. I hope you can find this book in a library. It would be good to roll back time and restore this book to my former school library - this is a very special book with a funny and yet poignant story with terrific lively illustrations.
I do enjoy books about chickens. Some favourite titles are:
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