Where would the picture book industry be without animals? Talking or non-speaking, cute or obnoxious, mischievously alive or poignantly dying, animal characters can be utilised to teach life lessons, and to make complex issues accessible and less confronting for young children. Add humour, passion and strong original writing, and you have a winner.

Leigh Hobbs combines all three in Fiona the Pig, and the appeal starts with the cover. Who could resist that beaming piggy face, all blonde curls, pink ribbons and stage-struck ambition, framed by red velvet curtains and a large heart? Like Horrible Harriet and Old Tom before her, Fiona is a misfit. ‘Why can’t Fiona be more like us?’ wail her puzzled and disappointed parents. Fiona is fastidious: she takes bubble baths instead of wallowing in mud; she hosts dainty tea parties for her dolls instead of living in filth; she wants to be a ballet dancer. Her parents consult the wise Dr Pinkysnout, who reassures them that Fiona’s behaviour is not abnormal: ‘Most pigs are very clean and very neat, you know.’ Mr and Mrs Pig decide that it is they who must change, which is easier said than done. But blood is thicker than water and, in a warm and funny resolution, the parents learn to accept their ‘different’ child.

Hobbs is able to convey a wide range of porcine expressions, often by just the curve of a mouth or the (mis)placement of an eyeball, and he’s equally brilliant at portraying exuberant activity. Fiona’s solo performance in her ballet ‘Pigs Can Fly’, and her attempts to teach herself to tap dance are only two of the pictorial gems in a book that will captivate readers of all ages. But I couldn’t help wishing Fiona had been a Floyd or a Freddie: now that would have tested Mr and Mrs Pig.