ALA Booklist

Three little pigs enter the barnyard with their mother's warning to be good little pigs ringing in their pink ears. They all bristle at this, wanting to be big pigs fact, as big and as piggy as possible. So siblings Sweet Pea, Nibbles, and Clean Bean try to outdo each other by being the first to squeeze through a fence, gobble up a row of vegetables, and sink into mud, getting, of course, as messy as possible. (This is an upending of the usual child's dare, "The last one in is a rotten egg," since these pigs desperately want to be rotten.) When the mother discovers they've made a meal out of the farmer's garden, she's proud of them! Children will rejoice in the pigs' wholehearted messiness. The acrylic illustrations explode the pigs' adventures off the page edges, and the words revolving around the pigs' exploits (gobbled, gulped, muddled, and puddled) enhance the joyous, playful feel of this book. Helakoski's other books, including her Big Chickens series, make for natural read-alikes.

Horn Book

To prove they're big--not little--three piglet brothers race to pull off various pranks, from raiding the vegetable garden to submerging deep in the mud. In a funny surprise ending, Mama Pig praises her obstreperous piglets for their rowdy behavior instead of scolding them. The playful use of language ("Slip. Slurp. Slop"), and the exuberant, appropriately big illustrations add to the humor.

Kirkus Reviews

These three little porkers behave like...well, you know, until their mama teaches them a surprising lesson. Piglets Sweet Pea, Nibbles and Clean Bean can't wait to explore the farm. Mama Pig's admonition to "[b]e good little pigs" goes in three pink ears and out the others. After sneaking through a sturdy fence (they scrape and scramble and squiggle and jiggle and shove and shimmy), the trio finds itself in the middle of an inviting patch of delicious vegetables. They attack them with vigor, gobbling and gulping and mashing and mangling and swallowing and swilling. What's left when the vegetables are gone is dirt, which quickly turns into mud that's perfect for wallowing. And they do. Stuffed and contented, they sneak back home. When she sees them, Mama Pig snorts a great big "Humph!" They sheepishly confess to all their (mis)deeds, and Mama grimly marches them to the barn. After closing the barn door, she tells them, "I'm so proud I could bust a gut!" The three little piglets kiss and snuggle with their Mama—"Smush. Smack. Smooch"—before falling asleep. Helakoski packs her porcine tale with vivid verbs that are oversized and highlighted and mostly come, appropriately, in trios. The final twist, however, though piggily appropriate, comes out of the blue and lacks textual explication, which will likely confuse young readers. Gleeful—and opaque. (Picture book. 3-6)

School Library Journal (Thu May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

PreS-Gr 1 Three pigletsSweet Pea, Nibbles, and Clean Beandare one another to show who is big, bigger, biggest. The first challenge is sneaking into the garden, next it's eating a whole row of garden vegetables, and then it's racing to the mud hole. At the end of the day, Mama Pig finds them in the farmyard and wants to know who made all the mess. Simple figures in shaded pastels give the pigs individuality. The yellow, blue, and pink pigs are often splattered with mud and are definitely having fun. The illustrations are engaging and amusing, but it's the vocabulary that really shines. Helakoski reveals her love of language with singsong rhymes and alliterative word groups, such as "They gobbled and gulped./They mashed and mangled./They swallowed and swilled." The large format, comical narrative, and repetitive and rhyming phrases make this book ideal for sharing.— Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA