Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude. More fun than a rasher of bacon and sure to be in demand at story hours. The smug, smiling faces of the pigs are the perfect counterpart to the witch's toothless grin (and to the wolf's loopy smile on the back cover). The book's dynamic, frame-popping layout and Fine's realistic style give the art an almost 3-D look he convinces readers of every twist in the text with appropriately imagined visuals. Fully outfitted, they flummox Gritch until she abandons her plan and finds an unlikely lunch date (meal) in a wolf. She buzzes Old MacDonald's Farm, skywriting ``Surrender Piggies'' in one of the wordless scenes of the pigs scurrying for cover and donning various disguises. When Gritch the Witch gets an attack of munchies, she finds that the only recipe that will satisfy her craving calls for eight plump piggies. The true subject of this disarming pastiche is children's culture, as the collaborators conspire to raid such venerable domains as Old MacDonald's Farm, Oz, and Big Bad Wolfdom for their material. Now Howard divides his time between his two careers: dentistry and illustration, both of which bring lots of smiles.In a first picture book outing for each, Palatini and Fine display the confidence of veterans in the field.

He got the chance to illustrate Margie Palatini's hilarious picture book, PIGGIE PIE, which became a bestseller. After attending the Philadelphia College of Art and working in advertising, and just before studying anatomy, physiology, and other things dentists need to know, Howard was pulled back again by the lure of art. With a plan to become a doctor or dentist, Howard went to Bucknell, where his future career came full circle when he rediscovered his love of art.

Perhaps a career in the medical field was a better choice.

Howard Fine began drawing at the age of two, although as he grew up, he wondered if he should turn his attention toward more practical endeavors, like making it in the NBA (a plan that lasted until his freshman year of high school). Despite repeated difficulties, a large ape tries various approaches to selling Ape-On Cosmetics and his persistence pays off in an unexpected way

Piggie pie by margie palatini