Apologies to those who like this book, but I have to rant!
The writing is amaturish; the caricature of the environmentalist parents is really small-minded; the "suspenseful" build-up about the missing pig and the mysterious garden next door is long and dull; the pig's disappearance, when solved, is a let-down, it was just a way to introduce the main character to the next-door neighbors; then we get treated to some heavy-handed didacticism about how important science is (which poor George has been kept in ignorance of by his luddite parents).
I'm only at page 25 and I'm ready to thow the book at a wall. Anyone who likes this book, I'd appreciate hearing what you like about it, and whether any of the issues that are bugging me bugged you, and if they get any better.
