About this item
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FARUnlikely pig owners Steve and Derek got a whole lot more than they bargained for when the designer micro piglet they adopted turned out to be a full-sized 600-pound sow In the bestselling tradition of pet memoirs such as Oogy, Dewey, and Giant George, the story of ESTHER THE WONDER PIG shows how families really do come in all shapes and sizes. In the summer of 2012, Steve Jenkins was contacted by an old friend about adopting a micro piglet. Though he knew his partner Derek wouldn't be enthusiastic, he agreed to take the adorable little pig anyway, thinking he could care for her himself. Little did he know, that decision would change his and Derek's lives forever. It turned out there was nothing "micro" about Esther, and Steve and Derek had actually signed on to raise a full-sized commercial pig. Within three years, Tiny Esther grew to a whopping 600 pounds. After some real growing pains and a lot of pig-sized messes, it became clear that Esther needed much more space, so Steve and Derek made another life-changing decision: they bought a farm and opened the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, where they could care for Esther and other animals in need. Funny, heartwarming, and utterly charming, ESTHER THE WONDER PIG follows Steve and Derek's adventure--from reluctant pig parents to farm-owning advocates for animals.
About the Author
Steve was born in 1952 in Hickory, North Carolina. His father, who would become a physics professor and astronomer (and recently his co-author on a book about the Solar System) , was in the military and, later, working on science degrees at several different universities. We moved often. Steve lived in North Carolina, Panama, Virginia, Kansas, and Colorado. Wherever he lived, he kept a menagerie of lizards, turtles, spiders, and other animals, collected rocks and fossils, and blew things up in his small chemistry lab. Because he moved often, Steve didn't have a large group of friends, and he spent a lot of time with books. His parents read to him until he could read himself, and he became an obsessive reader. His interest in science led me to believe that I'd be a scientist himself. At the last minute, he chose instead to go to art school in North Carolina, where he studied graphic design. After graduation he moved to New York City, where he worked in advertising and design, first in large firms and then with his wife, Robin Page, in their own small graphic design firm. Robin, also an author and illustrator, is his frequent collaborator - they've made sixteen children's books together. Their daughter Page was born in 1986 and our son, Alec, two years later. They began reading to them when they were just a few months old, and Steve became interested in making children's books himself. My wife and I read to our two older children almost every night until hisdaughter was 12 or 13, long after they were reading on their own. It was, in many ways, the best part of the day. In 1994 they moved to from New York City to Boulder, Colorado, where they work in a studio attached to their house, which was built in the 1880s and often functions as if it were still the 19th century. Their youngest son, Jamie, was born in 1998. The questions his children asked over the years have been the inspiration for many of their books.
