John Mullan’s got his list of Ten of the Best Pigs in Literature. Here are mine.
1. Wilbur from E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, natch.
2. Babe from Dick King-Smith’s Babe.
3. Hen Wen from Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydian.
4. Freddy from Walter R. Brooks’ Freddy the Pig books.
5. Olivia from Ian Falconer’s Olivia books.
6, 7, 8. The three pigs in David Wiesner’s The Three Pigs.
9. The pig baby in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
10.Mercy Watson in Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series (suggested by Susan Thomsen).
11. Piglet in A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. (Thanks to @Jennifer Trafton for reminding me of this piggy;)
educating alice 
Hurray for you!
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Wonderful!! Heartily endorse Mullan’s P.G. Wodehouse pig. And your list–where to begin? How do you rank these? They are all so wonderful. Hot buttered toast for the porcine wonder, Mercy, Weisner’s metafictional piggies and Olivia of the Jackson Pollack paint experiment. Great stuff.
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Oh, they aren’t ranked. No way could I do that!
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I’d like to put my two cents in for Jane Yolen’s Piggins, who is a rotund porcine butler who solves mysteries in an English country house, Christie-style. (Not murders, no no. Mysteries more of the “who has stolen Lady’s diamond lavalier?” variety.) I don’t know if the subtle parodies of upstairs/downstairs culture is understood by kids, but I’ve always found it a hoot.
Believe it or not, this is presented in picture-book format with Jane Dyer’s trademark watercolors. Yum.
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Maybe the next editionofthis list could include Laurel Snyder’s new pig “hero” Baxter the Pig Who Wanted to be Kosher.
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Glad you thought of Hen Wen, but I’m mighty impressed that the first list had Mr. Frumble.
Scarry’s pigs are wonderful and they sure do love fresh corn!
The brand new Baxter may be joining the list very soon.
And from my wife’s books: Blue Pig from Sock Monkey goes to Hollywood, et al…
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Love hearing about all these other pigs. Keep ’em coming!
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I think an updated list will have to include Nanny Piggins–this new book by R. A. Spratt features a hilarious nanny pig who’s formerly a flying circus pig and takes charge of three children. She’s the antithesis of Mary Poppins…Nanny Piggins believes in eating lots of chocolate, staying up late, and not going to school! Her adventures will tickle your funny bone.
Also, what about the adorable Poppleton Pig in Cynthia Rylant’s easy reader series? Also Amanda Pig from Jean Van Leuven’s series.
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Oliver and Amanda Pig created by Jean van Leuwen are favorites here at Semicolon house. Your others are good additions to the Pig List, too.
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Piglet! Of course. How could I forget about him?
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