J. K. Rowling, the well-known author of “Harry Potter”, one of the most famous sagas on a world scale, is back on track in children’s literature with a new novel entitled “The Christmas Pig”. The book will be translated into more than twenty languages and will arrive worldwide on 12 October.
As you can guess from the title, the story is set on Christmas Eve and tells of a little boy named Jack, who will do anything to find his favorite toy, a stuffed pig. In the magical Christmas atmosphere, everything becomes possible, for example, toys can come to life. But the lost soft toy does not correspond to the Christmas Pig, since the latter is actually a substitute for the old toy. However, it will be the Christmas Pig who will set up a plan to find Jack’s dear stuffed animal.
J. K. Rowling last year published the fairy tale “Ickabog” for children, written years before her, as a bedtime story for her children who, in her time, were small. The story was then serialized online during the lockdown to entertain the little ones and was finally published, donating the proceeds to the charity Volant to help those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Christmas Pig” will be published in a hardcover edition, featuring illustrations by award-winning artist Jim Field. Nothing is known about the cover yet.
We will have to wait a few more months before we can immerse ourselves in this new adventure based on the loss of a dear object. It is not the first time that J. K. Rowling has dealt with the subject of loss in her writings, and even this story is very moving for readers. But we need to remember that it is still set in the days of Christmas, and therefore also the magic will return to excite us, as already happened in the Harry Potter saga.
Although there is no effective connection between the two works, it is clear that the themes treated by Rowling, as well as the literary devices she has already resorted to in the past, keep returning in new stories, taking on new colors. Above all, it is typical of the author to deal with universal and ageless topics through apparently simple and childish events. The main character is once again a little boy who lived an ordinary life, which was then upset by extraordinary and unexpected events. Readers are ready to cheer on the new protagonist and support him on his magical journey.
