The writer and illustrator Mary Rayner, who has died aged 89, was best known for her picture books about Mr and Mrs Pig, and the escapades of their 10 piglets. In stories that wittily navigate the complexities of family life, the clothes-wearing Pig family make no reference to being pigs, except in riffing off the story-book trope of pigs being threatened by a wolf.
Such was the success of the first book, Mrs and Mrs Pig’s Evening Out (1976), that a further seven picture books and many short stories about the familial dramas surrounding the vivacious Pig family followed, as well as other picture books and novels. Mary also illustrated stories by other writers, including Dick King-Smith’s Daggie Dogfoot (1980), Magnus Powermouse (1982) and The Sheep-Pig (1983).
