Piggy Island Heroes: It's Raining Pigs is a picture book written by Les Spink and published by Insight Kids in 2014. The book primarily focuses on the misadventures of the pigs, both pre-existing and original.
Description[]
What happens when the wacky King Pig decides he wants the new weathervane on Professor Pig’s roof for himself? Or when Chef Pig desperately needs to find something that looks like an egg for the King’s birthday? And exactly what goes on in the mines of the city when the sun sets and darkness creeps in? Starring the porky antagonists of the Angry Birds, this delightful collection of exciting stories invites readers to enter through the gates of the Bad Piggies’ city and learn all there is to know about its dastardly residents.
Summary[]
Big Secret[]
King Pig is spying on Professor Pig pig through his telescope when he notices him raise a steel plate in the shape of King Pig over his roof. The King immediately sets his sights on the shiny object. His excited proclamations catch the attention of Sweaty and Spotty, who abandon their cleaning post to check on him. King Pig then explodes into a barely comprehensible rant about how the Professor has him, and is using him for one of his secrets. After some more rambling, he ropes the two into retrieving his silver lookalike from Professor Pig's roof, and sends them on their way.
While taking a break after setting up his weather vain, Professor Pig notices Sweaty and Spotty run up to his house. When they ask about his "Big Secret". Professor Pig explains that it's a weather vain, and that King Pig can't have it, as it would tamper with the results of his experiment. Upon hearing this, Sweaty and Spotty immediately leave to inform King Pig. The King is in awe of the news, and decide that he and the two Minions will steal it during the night.
Spotty protests that a storm is on it's way, pointing out Sweaty's odd tendency to puff up and emit mucus from his snout whenever a storm is near, but King Pig dismisses them, saying it's clear outside. The King also plans to accompany them for this attempt to make sure they do it right. Back at Professor Pig's lab, he notices that he's left a hole in his roof as the storm rolls in. Exasperated, he decides to make himself a cup of tea and worry about it later. Outside, Sweaty has ballooned to such a large size that he has begun floating, with Spotty having to tie him to King Pig with chains just to keep him down.
He eventually gets to the weather vain, where King Pig orders him to grab it with his teeth. He snags it, and manages to shock King Pig when his teeth are struck by lightning. Inside, Professor Pig's monitors are reactivated by lighting, and are able to receive TV broadcasts, which enamors Professor Pig. As a result of the shock, Sweaty's teeth are turned silver. King Pig immediately desires silver teeth of his own, but Spotty tells Sweaty to let him get his own. The two leave King Pig alone in the mud, without his big secret.
Earie Pig's Ear[]
Now graduated, Dumper and Koff can now work as miners in the Earwax Mines. They're given a celebratory send-off by the piggy band, who nearly run the duo over when they leave. The two are put under the supervision of Stumpy, the hardest miner in Pig City, and sent off to the Earwax Mines. They light the candles on their helmets, and are lowered into the mines via bucket. The group get into a mine car, and Koff begins telling ghost stories, which Stumpy dismisses as nonsense to scare piglets.
The three make it to the deepest tunnel, and Stumpy orders them to start digging. They begin hearing odd noises, but Stumpy insists that it's nothing and orders them to keep digging. Eventually, Stumpy's yelling causes the cave to start collapsing, with Koff blaming the incident on a phantom. Stumpy tells them they have to look for another way out, but quickly abandons Dumper and Koff when they begin hearing more odd noises. They follow after him, and the three soon find themselves lost in the cave system.
The group eventually find themselves at a crossroad. Dumper and Stumpy argue for a bit about which way to go, and decide to flip Koff, with the left tunnel being heads and the right being tails. He lands on his side, and they just decide to let him pick. To Stumpy's annoyance, Koff picks left. Another loud noise blows though the cavern, causing Stumpy to run off again. When Dumper and Koff catch up to him, the three find themselves suspended over some green slime by a narrow bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge gives way, causing Koff to fall into the slime.
Stumpy panics and runs off again, and both of the remaining pig's candle helmets die out. They press on, with Stumpy eventually finding what he mistakes as a way out, but in reality is a cave full of glowing crystals. The two eventually make their way outside at the top of Hog Head Mountain, where they find the piggy band practicing. They turn around to find Koff, who not only survived, but made his way outside by himself. He also surmised that the echoes they had been hearing were actually the band playing in the mouth pool.
Stumpy lies about knowing it was the band making the noise the whole time, but Dumper and Koff decide not to challenge him on his claim. The two graduates head home to tell their friends about there day. As for Stumpy, he decides that he's grown tired of his "hardest miner" act, and needs a change. He joins the piggy band, discovering his talent for playing the triangle.
The King's Eggs[]
When King Pig's birthday rolls around, both Foreman Pig and Chef Pig have certain tasks to complete for the event. Foreman Pig must gather a large quantity of presents for the King, which he does easily, while Chef Pig must prepare a banquet. Unfortunately for Chef Pig, King Pig has his sights set on Eggs for his birthday banquet, making his job significantly harder. King Pig asks for eggs every year, and always notices when Chef Pig substitutes the eggs with something else.
Chef Pig soon notices Sweaty and Spotty driving outside of the castle, and calls them over. He tells them to search Piggy Island for anything that looks like an egg, and to bring what they find back to him. He tells them that he can't help because of his bad back. The two leave, and Chef Pig decides to celebrate his genius by taking a nap.
Sweaty and Spotty first venture into the Slingshot Woods, where they find egg-shaped pinecones and cotton balls. The next day the two find and eat a large termite nest, along with a termite egg. They collect the egg (which was actually a mass of tiny eggs stuck together), and move on, finding an egg-shaped mushroom on the Moorlands. They make one last stop at the Crown Mountains, picking up an egg-shaped rock.
They make it back right as King Pig begins demanding his feast, and Chef Pig sets up the feast. Unfortunately, King Pig sneezes, destroying the cotton egg, the termite eggs hatch and eat the pine cone and mushroom eggs. When the King tries to eat the last egg, he breaks his teeth on the egg-shaped rock. Chef Pig is initially imprisoned, but is released when Foreman Pig is unable to cook meals as good as his. Sweaty and Spotty are then sent on a new mission to find the King a dentist.
Garden In Gloom[]
Chef Pig finds his garden unable to grow crops, and calls over Mechanic Pig to diagnose the problem. He shows Mechanic Pig around the garden, first with an empty tree stump that's supposed to be infested with mushrooms. The Chefs snout-hair shoots aren't fairing any better. Mechanic Pig soon discovers a crab roaming around the garden. He then licks the soil, finding it to have a strange taste. Chef Pig questions Mechanic Pig's knowledge of "hogriculture", bringing up Foreman Pig in the process.
Mechanic Pig becomes offended by the mention of Foreman Pig and threatens to leave, forcing Chef Pig to grovel and kiss up to him. Mechanic Pig reminds Chef Pig that he's the expert, and continues on his investigation. He notices dune grass growing, which normally grows near the ocean. After investigating even more dead crops, Mechanic Pig comes to the conclusion that the issue was that the earth was salted. Chef Pig reluctantly leads him to the water pipe where they find sea creatures immerging from the pipe.
After noticing orange hairs covering the pipe, Mechanic Pig finally realizes what the problem is. Foreman Pig had set Chef Pig up with an infinite water supply, with said water coming from the ocean. Mechanic Pig hands Chef Pig a shovel, tells him to dig for water, and leaves. Chef Pig swears to dig a hole, and put Foreman Pig at the bottom of it.
Appearances[]
Characters:[]
- King Pig
- Professor Pig
- Sweaty and Spotty
- Dumper and Koff
- Stumpy
- Chef Pig
- Foreman Pig
- Mechanic Pig
Locations:[]
- Piggy Island
- Pig City
- Pig Palace
- Hog Head Mountain
- Earwax Mines
- Slingshot Woods
- Moorlands
- Crown Mountains
Pages[]
Trivia[]
- On page 45, the word "built" is misspelled as "boilt"
- The mining helmets that are used in "Earie Pig's Ear" are similar to the mining helmets used by the pigs in the Unused Cave chapter of Angry Birds Stella, with the most noticeable similarity being the use of candles as lights.