Snow is No Deterrent For This Very Small Piglet

Here in Erie, a very blusterous sort of storm has been brewing for the past couple days, dumping snow all over the city and for miles around. As I gaze out the window from my perch under a cozy blanket on the couch, I can see the flakes falling furiously, as though each one was racing the next to the gleaming ground. It's the kind of weather that invites the conflict of whether to stay inside and watch the beautification from a safe distance or go outside and wade around in the powdery covering, turning into a popsicle in the process. These are just the conditions Piglet faces in A Perfect Little Piglet.

As most folks know, Piglet is a timid and tiny creature, so one might expect he would opt for the cozy window-watching in a blizzard. But Piglet craves friendship even more than security, so the beginning of the book finds him tromping through the snow to Pooh's house. Because he is so small, he can't walk very quickly, and once he arrives at his destination and Pooh invites him inside, he is unable to help his friend by getting a pair of teacups from the top shelf of Pooh's cupboard. This is all very discouraging for Piglet.

But Pooh is a very good friend disinclined to hold a grudge against someone for his shortcomings; instead, he reminds Piglet that bees are much smaller than piglets and that they have the extremely important job of making honey. On the way home, Piglet meets Tigger, Roo and Eeyore, and each of his encounters leaves him with an even stronger sense of self-worth, particularly when he is able to perform a very noble task that only someone of his size could manage.

This isn't exactly new territory; every now and then a book or an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh has dealt with Piglet's feelings of inadequacy, and a few years back Piglet's Big Movie even tackled the same territory, though I wouldn't say it did so particularly well. I have no complaints with this story, though, which is written in a simple style by Rita Balducci and vibrantly illustrated by Arkadia Illustration Ltd. It's the second book in Disney's Out and About With Pooh: A Grow and Learn Library.

Even if we aren't half the size of most of our friends, most of us know what it is to feel small, so this is a story that you don't have to be a Pooh fan to appreciate. It just might even be enough to entice a snuggly gal like me to venture out into the cold for a while.