You can tell that you're not reading typical children's book fare when on the second page Zeke is cleaning the harmonica that fell out of the garbage truck with his father's schnapps. Zeke is a tale of a pig who finds a magic harmonica when it literally falls at his feet from the garbage truck. Of course he initially regales his family with the prelude to La Traviata! but they fall asleep. He can't believe how rude and insulting his family are and so he runs away from home with his harmonica, and food. This book is very controversial because of the fathers' schnapps and because the mother threatens suicide. Reading this book to students would take serious consideration. ( )

Zeke is a young pig who happens upon a magic harmonica. He plays it very well, but everyone falls asleep as he preforms so he runs away only to discover that it's the harmonica that puts everyone to sleep. Very bright, beautiful illustrations done in ink and paint with lots of variation from an opening page caption picture to double page spreads and panel illustrations. A good runaway story including danger and narrow escapes. Recommended for all readers and any childrens' collection. ( )

The picaresque tale of Zeke Pippin is stuffed to the gills with playful, musical lingo, manic plot-turns, and characters whose voices are intuitive and uproarious to read out loud. Read in the spirit in which it's written, kids of any age will dig this rollicking roller-coaster tale - a zeezly, zoozly masterpiece. ( )