The Christmas Pig

The Christmas Pig puts a unique spin on the classic children’s fantasy genre. With its alternative universe and collection of personified characters, The Christmas Pig echoes other famous titles featuring child protagonists who undertake high-stakes quests to magical places. For example, in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Pevensie children must travel to the land of Narnia and help to overthrow the cruel Queen who rules with an iron fist. Just as the Pevensie children must navigate unfamiliar dangers in Narnia, Jack must find his way through The Land of the Lost and outwit several malicious characters to complete his quest. 

The novel also bears a passing resemblance to Norton Juster’s 1961 novel, The Phantom Tollbooth, in which a boy named Milo goes on a quest to reunite a divided kingdom. When Milo passes through a mysterious tollbooth and enters an entirely different world, he, too, befriends creatures who personify abstract ideas and complex concepts. His main quest is to rescue the wise princesses, Rhyme and Reason, who have been imprisoned in the Castle in the Air by a pair of rival kings.