Pigs Can't Fly

On Christmas Day 2022, the talented award-winning Canadian children’s author/illustrator, Wallace Edwards, passed away, aged 65. His last book, Pigs Can’t Fly, contains the same marvellously colourful, imaginative artwork we have come to expect of the 2002 Governor General’s Literary Award winner. Edwards died four months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He began work on this final book as soon as he received the diagnosis, and it is wonderful that he was able to finish the work so that readers might enjoy one last treat from an amazing creator.

The dedication, “for Katie”, and the end of the book, “Love will see you through”, suggest Edwards’ love “for Katie”—his partner for 25 years—knew no bounds. What was also boundless was Edwards’ remarkable imagination. Pigs Can’t Fly reflects Edwards’ creativity, positivity, optimism, humour, and well-developed sense of fun.

Pigs Can’t Fly—which I think should be entitled Pigs Can Fly—is about endless possibilities. Naysayers might seek to impose limits, but in Edwards’ imagination there were no limits. His book has flying pigs, a juggling mouse, a ballet dancer worm, and a frog playing the bagpipes. These and other imaginative, seemingly impossibly gifted characters populate the book and add fun and flair to the reading experience.

Full-page illustrations augment and extend the rhyming written text. That text is presented in a large and clear font that allows for easy and enjoyable reading. Selected details from the full-page illustrations are also included on each page of written text, adding to the overall visual appeal of what is a well designed, attractive book. The eye-catching artwork was created in pencil, watercolour, and gouache. It features Edwards’ trademark liberal use of colour to emphasise the detail in his work. A predominantly cool colour palette is augmented by splashes of boldly vibrant reds.

Pigs Can’t Fly is a book to revisit over and over for the sheer fun of it. While it is perhaps particularly suitable for preschoolers through to young school children taking early forays into independent reading, Pig’s Can’t Fly is really a book for young and old.

It is sad to realise there will be no new Wallace Edwards books. However, Pigs Can’t Fly is but one piece in an extensive legacy of colour, fun, and imagination Wallace Edwards has left us to savour long after his passing. Vale Wallace Edwards.