The Adventures of Pongo and Stink
Written by Lisa Nicol
Illustrated by Karen Blair
Reviewed by Zewlan Moor
What adorable pigs! This is honestly a perfect read-aloud for Prep to Year 4. I hope it fills many Christmas stockings this year, and many classrooms in 2026.
Pongo and Stink are a porcine odd couple who live in shabby comfort on Farmer Nic’s farm. When their domestic drudgery is interrupted by a menacing intruder who makes threats such as, “One move and you’re both bacon”(4), they are launched into a thrilling adventure.
Well, it is actually Pongo who launches them headfirst into the main plot. She wakes up after the intrusion feeling “strangely flat” (9). She laments:
‘…I think I almost enjoyed getting held hostage. It was something different for once. Our lives are so dull. So drab!’
‘Give me dull and drab any day,’ said Stink, munching on a turnip.
‘That’s because you’re an old stick-in-the-mud, Stink. But I’m a daring and adventurous pig, and the routine around here is killing me!’ (9)
Despite Stink’s staidness (or is it laziness?), he can’t resist following Pongo’s frolicking bottom to town to buy a dog suit, so they can pretend to be dogs, so they can eat pancakes in Farmer Nic’s kitchen like their nemesis, Rollo the farm dog. In a dog’s world, that is the plan Pongo comes up with to address the injustice.
Their first obstacle is meeting a foxy fox, who flatters Pongo into divulging their plans. Stink starts to have doubts about the plans, but Pongo is determined, and scoffs:
‘I’m not about to let a fox get between me, a dog suit and a life of luxury. If push comes to shove, I can outfox a fox. Like I said, I can do anything I set my mind to.’ (32)
Stink marvels at how such a little pink pig can hold so much confidence. He continues to urge caution, but even he can be persuaded to try new things. Such as the “pair of electric-blue, heart-shaped sunglasses with diamantés around the rims.”
‘Try these.’
Stink thought they looked ridiculous, but knew better than to argue and so popped them on.
‘Oh, Stink!’ gasped Pongo, ‘You look amazing! Those really suit you!’
Stink looked in the mirror. He turned his head this way and that. The truth was, he did look amazing. But Stink was a very practical pig. He didn’t buy things he didn’t need. Unless, of course, he could eat them.’ (34-35)
It is the exchanges like these, which develop the characters of the two pigs, which make the book so comical and warm. Does Pongo learn to curb her daring adventurism? Hmmm, yes, but not really. Does Stink learn to let loose more? Well, yes, but he also stays pretty much the same over the course of the novel. Which is as it should be in a book about tolerating differences in our friends and sticking with them through delectable mud baths and shameful garden wrecking. And this sets the book up well for a sequel, which I hope is in the making.
I couldn’t help smiling and laughing out loud throughout this book. Young readers will enjoy living through the high drama of tantalising highs and devastating lows. And they will chuckle along with the fart jokes, of which I am usually not a fan, but which suit the characters, who politely always say, “Pardon me.”
This book will leave your audience as happy as pigs in mud!
Penguin 2025
Lisa Nicol
Karen Blair
Zewlan Moor is the author of Nothing Alike, The Bill Dup and Our World: Philippines
