The pig's knickers by Jonathan Emmet and Vanessa Cabban

Walker Books, 2010. ISBN 978 1406316247.
Picture book. When Pig grumbles about being plain and ordinary, a pair of knickers flies into her face, blown from the clothesline at the farm. She is delighted, and tries them on, feeling that they make her special. Being the prefect colour and the right size, she parades them around the farm, asking the other animals what they think. Politely they all tell her that she looks amazing, astonishing and astounding.  She is overwhelmed with delight. That night she washes her knickers and hangs them out to dry, only to find them gone in the morning. She is devastated. When she cries to her friends, they all tell her that it was not the knickers that made her astounding, but herself. A twist at the end will leave classes laughing.
A delightful story about being yourself, and the very specialness of each child, this story will be a great way of introducing the ideas around what makes a person unique. Kids will love the drawing of the pig with the knickers and then the other piece of underwear she finds. They will delight at the animals trying to help her see that she does not need anything else to make her special, and will giggle with the goat who so decidedly ate the knickers, whistling to itself in the background. Readers will love the looks on the animals' faces as they try to convince the pig that she is indeed special.
I loved the uncompromising use of language, new words for readers to get their mouths around and assimilate into their own vocabulary.
Fran Knight