Saucy

by Cynthia Kadohata

First published 2020

Becca struggles to find what makes her unique among her quadruplet brothers. Jake has music and dancing. Jammer excels at hockey. K.C. believes they live in a simulation and avoids most activities. Becca feels ordinary until she discovers a tiny, ill piglet abandoned roadside. She names the piglet Saucy and convinces her family to adopt her through persistence and the animal's adorable appearance. Saucy becomes a beloved family member who grows rapidly in size and destructive capacity. The pig's increasing weight brings mounting household chaos and puts Becca in repeated trouble with her parents. Difficult choices about Saucy's future force Becca to investigate the piglet's origins. Her research reveals many other frightened piglets need rescue from similar circumstances. Saving these animals requires Becca to unite her brothers in their first collaborative effort, transforming her individual mission into a family endeavor that finally gives her the distinctive identity she sought.

Genres: fiction, family, animals, coming-of-age, 21st-century, adoption

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, sibling-relationships

304 pages · Hardcover · Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

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