Mya receives the gift of an Alaskan pig named Julius from her grandfather and they have many things to teach each other. Mya teaches Julius how to act more civilized and Julius teaches Mya how to dance to jazz and other fun things. It is a silly book that can help children to learn that you can learn something new from everywhere and you can even learn some things from the people-or pigs- you least expect to learn from. ( )

The story starts with a young girl named Maya who receives a surprise present from her Granddaddy. The present is a large pig called Julius. Maya loves Julius but her parents do not. Maya and Julius have several crazy but fun adventures. Maya finally decides to teach Julius about manners. After this everyone is happier and Julius and Maya remain the best of friends. I liked that the story showed how friends share experiences and help each other to be the best they can be. ( )

This book is about a girl named Maya who is gifted an Alaskan pig, Julius, from her grandpa. Julius is messy and hyper at first which her parents don't like. Then Maya starts teaching Julius some different rules and things to do in the house. Julius also taught Maya cool things like how to dance to jazz music. In the end everyone is happy, including Maya's parents. ( )

Maya we see instantly is attached with a caring bond to Julius the pig. The parents at first do not want the pet in the house but once are shown that Maya trained him to have manors they are okay with him and love him as well. This book can teach children the importance of responsibility and the role of sharing in life. This book is humorous and I routed Julius the pig on from the moment the crate was brought into the house, the granddad brought Julius as a present and it made me excited to see Maya's reaction. She loved the pig, they danced and even ate together. I loved this book and it made me wanna be the little girl and reminded me of having my dog and training it to not roll in mud or go potty in the house. This book greatly had a happy tone and was enjoyable. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because it can show children the responsibilities of owning a pet and how much time and effort it takes to maintain one. I liked how their friendship grows throughout the book and the fact that both Julius and Maya learned something from each other. I did not like the fact that Johnson made it seem that owning a pet is very messy and hard to control. Some children may even purposely eat like Julius and think that is funny or okay because a character did it in a book they read. On the other hand, this would be a great book to read to a class that has behavior issues or children who need to learn manners. You can teach your students you don't want to be like the crazy, messy Julius, but rather the respectful well-mannered one! ( )