From Publishers Weekly
This sequel to Goodbye, Pink Pig begins when Amanda leaves Schenectady and her beloved grandmother, Pearly, to rejoin her mother in Los Angeles. Amanda feels trapped in the new apartment located near the freeway. Her only companions are Angel Delaney, the landlady's bratty daughter, and a shy boy named Robbie, who is staying with the Delaneys. Amanda once again relies on magic to escape loneliness and isolation; through the special powers of a tiny quartz pig, she is transported into a kingdom populated by knights, dragons and a beautiful ballerina. Readers may find that the troubles existing in the enchanted land are a subtle reflection of Amanda's own conflicts: for example, the dark knight who turns out to be a not-so-evil woman bears a striking resemblance to Amanda's high-strung mother. Wrought with wisdom and sensitivity, Adler's unusual blend of allegory and realism allows readers to decide how much is imagined and how much is true. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6 --Amanda's lives for a time with her beloved grandmother, and then moves cross-country to be a latchkey child with her beautiful but critical mother in a strange, unfriendly apartment house. As in Good-bye, Pink Pig (Avon, 1986), her escape is through a tiny rose quartz pig that, instantaneously, can become warm and rubbery and converse with her. The pig is 11-year-old Amanda's ticket to Little World, where problems of good and bad knights and dragons are the overriding concerns. Back in the real world, two stereotypical playmates (Angel, an obnoxious bully-brat, and Robbie, her docile doormat), plus an assortment of one-dimensional parents plod through the plot. Despite the very real parental problems here, meager character development leaves readers unconvinced of the promised happy resolutions. The book, while reminiscent of Adler's The Silver Coach (Avon, 1988), is not as engaging a vehicle to fantasy. --Katharine Bruner, Brown Middle School, Harrison, TN
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
