The Pigman

Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. ISBN-10: 0553263218, ISBN-13: 9780553263213. Batnam Books. 1983.

Summary
Two pranksters, John and Lorraine, meet Mr. Pignati while trying to prank him out of ten dollars for the fictitious "L&J Fund." When they go to collect their money from the Pigman, a relationship is started as the teens realize that the old, bald fat man is all alone. Mr. Pignati is more than happy to take on the role as a father-figure to the jaded, bored and alienated teens. Sadly, he isn't well, and suffers a heart attack while skating with the teens. John and Lorraine betray him by having a party in his house and the man's prized possessions are destroyed. Learning that John and Lorraine are responsible for betrayal, Mr. Pignati has another heart attack, this time a fatal one.

Critical Evaluation
This novel was first published in 1968, and yet its story still stands true. John and Lorraine learn that life isn't meaningless when there is love. That is the legacy that was left to them by their friend Mr. Pignati. Unfortunately, they learned it too late and promise to tell the story of their friendship with the Pigman as honestly as they can. Mr. Pignati was a lonely old man they tried to con out of some money for a prank to entertain their bored lives. Quickly he embraced them as friends, and his love for life flows from him onto the teens. Yet, as teens can be, they are selfish and betrayed Mr. Pignati by having a party while housesitting his home. The party gets out of hand, and the Pigman's prized possessions are destroyed—his dead wife's collection of pigs. Realizing that his friends, John and Lorraine, betrayed him and learning of the coinciding death of his favorite zoo animal—a cantankerous baboon, he's pushed over the edge, and dies from another heart attack. Young adult readers will hopefully grasp on to this thought: Our life would be what we made of it—nothing more, nothing less. Adults will perhaps read this and think badly of the teens because they may have forgotten that being a teen is being selfish. All readers will love Mr. Pignati for his ability to love.

Reader's Annotation
John and Lorraine tell the story of how they meet and strike up a friendship with a bald, fat, old, lonely man, the Pigman. Contracted to tell only they facts, they talk about the Pigman's ability to love even the most difficult people/creatures and how the two of them betrayed that love and faith.

About the Author
Paul Zindel was trained as a chemist at Wagner College in Staten Island, worked as a technical writer for about six months, and then moved to the role as a teacher. Inspired by with his time with mentor Edward Albee, Zindel began writing plays in college and continued to do so through the decade he taught high school chemistry and physics. His first staged play was "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds."* The play was seen by a book editor at Harper & Row, who encouraged Zindel to write his first book, The Pigman in 1968. In 1969, he quit teaching to write more books for young adults. With The Pigman, he used his own experiences as a teen to convey the way teens think and feel. That was the key to his success, and what he continued to do in his honest efforts to reach out young adult readers in ways the books being published for them at the time were not doing.

The Pigman started Zindel on a prolific career of writing. He published over 50 books for young adults and children. There are a couple series, The Freaky Facts Club and P.C. Hawke in addition to several novels, plays and a memoir. Notably, there is sequel to The Pigman, The Pigman's Legacy and The Pigman and Me, a memoir that recalls the material in Zindel's life experiences that fueled his writing for young adults; as well as other well known titles such as My Darling, My Hamburger, Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball and The Girl Who Wanted a Boy. The author died in 2003, ending a career that spanned over 30 years.

Genre
Friendship
Adolescence

Challenges
Teen Angst

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
If you betrayed one of your dearest friends, would you be able to stand up and be honest about the betrayal…
What do you think your legacy will be when you leave this school? Or what do you want your legacy to be when you leave college? Or even later in life…

Awards
American Library Association's Notable Children's Books 1940-1970
American Library Association's Best of the Best Young Adult Books 1966-1968
The Horn Book's Fanfare Honor List (1969)
New York Times' Outstanding Children's Book (1968)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was in eighth grade when my school librarian gave me The Pigman, and I remember liking it. I don't think it made as much of an impact on me then, as it did when I reread it now.

*The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was made into a movie directed by Paul Newman and starring Joanne Woodward