Ages 3 to 5 years. A comic misunderstanding lies at the heart of this story about a mysterious monster and a village of fearful pigs. When Bubba the white pig encounters a spiny, snarly, sharp-toothed monster that chases him down Palapala mountain, his fearful panic spreads throughout Sugarplum village. Frantically, his neighbors begin to develop increasingly complex ways to protect themselves from the monster, but their methods more often result in injuries and mistakes than safety and protection. All of the villagers' efforts prove to be comically unnecessary, however, when the monster pads down from the mountain -- and is discovered to be much less horrible than Bubba remembered.