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When i was a kid, i spent a lot of time at the library. every week or so, we would head to the local branch and walk out with armloads and tote bags full of books.  i remember my parents forced us impose a personal book limit on what we could check out.

this maximum limit was a real pain in the ass, but it did force us to expand our horizons and read outside the comfort bubble we were in. this expansion was the only way we could ensure that we would not run out of stuff to read.

i remember that one week, i had already reached my maximum. my dad walked over and handed  me a copy of William Sleator’s Interstellar Pig. it pushed me over my limit for the week but no one gave me any crap over it.

my dad had never read the book before, but he had a good feel for the bizarre nature of his kid and it was a good call. i ahve never forgotten the name of this book, nor it’s plotline. at one point, i was even found sleep walking and describing of of the characters as having been in the house.

after reading interstellar pig, i became a bit obsessed with sleator. another book of his, house of stairs (about mind control experiments on children), also has stayed with me and influenced many of my thought processes over the years.

Interstellar Pig, covers a 3-4 day period in the life of Barney. Barney is an average kid who is dragged to the beach with his parents for vacation. he has ultra sensitive skin and has to stay out of the sun for the most part. his plans for the vacation can be summarized as books book books and waiting for the day they are leaving.

things get a bit more interesting when the neighbors in the next rental house over arrive. they are goodlooking, very tan, and excitable. they are also obsessed with the house barney is staying in, attempting to gain access in a variety of ways.

this is not their only obsession. they also are enamored with a board game, interstellar pig. the board game covers a short span of time in which races from different planets must track down and keep a galactic artifact. whichever has it when time runs out wins. all others die, meanwhile, the planets they come from are simultaneously blown up.

after playing the game and learning that the bedroom he sleeps in was once the cell of a lunatic keelhauled murdering sailor, barney becomes obsessed himself. his only goal is to find out the truth about his neighbors and beat them at whatever ploy they are keeping under wraps.

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i had to pick up a copy of this book recently. whilst perusing powells books i found that THERE IS A SEQUEL. before i can buy the sequel, i needed to reread the original in order to determine if i would even still enjoy it. you never can tell with kids books right? the sequel is titled “Parasite Pig” and is supposed to pick up with Barney only a couple years after  book 1.

Interstellar Pig was still an excellent book. it was fairly shallow and the plot line is spoon fed to the reader, but for a kids book, it was enjoyable and hits the mark.

Tags: boardgames, book review, fiction, science fiction, young adult