A pig's tale; Redwater grad pens novel about a pig with heart

Alex Perry, a Redwater High School graduate and former middle school teacher, has written "Pighearted," a story about a boy with a fatal heart condition and the pig who could save him.
Alex Perry, a Redwater High School graduate and former middle school teacher, has written "Pighearted," a story about a boy with a fatal heart condition and the pig who could save him.

A Redwater High School graduate and former Houston middle school teacher will see her story about a pig with a big heart and the boy who befriends him published later this month.

Due out Oct. 26 via Little, Brown and Company's young readers imprint, "Pighearted" is the debut novel from Alex Perry, a 2009 graduate of Redwater who now calls central Arkansas home and recently visited with Texarkana high school students virtually about her heartwarming tale.

"It's the story of a boy with a fatal heart condition and his best friend: the pig with the heart that could save his life," Perry said.

The story explores the unlikely friendship between Jeremiah, a young boy who develops a heart condition, and J6, a research lab survivor who just may save Jeremiah.

"'Pighearted' is about 12-year-old Jeremiah, who has a heart attack during his first soccer game. His only hope is a transplant from a pig that's been genetically modified to grow a human heart," the author said. "The pig grew up in a lab, where he lost all of his brothers, and after meeting Jeremiah he hopes that the human boy can be his new brother."

They bond and share silly, funny adventures together, but Jeremiah is the only one that realizes the pig also possesses a human-like brain. The narrative perspective shifts between pig and boy.

"The story alternates from the pig's point of view and his warped, comic view of the human world and Jeremiah's point of view as he's navigating living in the hospital and isolating, kind of like what all these kids went through this past year with quarantine," Perry said. "Now they have to fight to save one another."

J6 realizes he has a special role to play, but he doesn't know what it is. Meanwhile, their friendship blossoms. It may not be what eventually happens, but the intention is for the pig to be an organ donor. The parents try to keep them from becoming close, Perry explained.

"They say he's a therapy pig," she said. "The pig thinks of himself as a cross between a bodyguard and a therapy pig, like a Secret Service animal. He thinks he's this tough customer that protects Jeremiah at all costs."

When a girl tries to kiss Jeremiah, J6 knocks her down to save him.

"She also made a crack about eating pork chops, so she deserved it," Perry said.

Think of it as a pig tale about never giving up fighting for the ones you love.

Perry got the idea from an NPR story she heard four years ago. "All of the science in the book is 100% real," she explained. "A scientist is trying to take pigs and use CRISPR gene-editing technology to give them human organs."

The author said part of the reason that's still illegal is that it could be possible that, via a mistake, the pig could develop human-like thoughts.

"I thought it would be a really interesting book to tell a story like from a pig's perspective," Perry said. "And then I thought of 'Charlotte's Web.'"

It's like a futuristic, realistic version of what could happen, an issue that can spark discussion among young readers.

The novel is geared toward 8- to 12-year-old youngsters, said the former 6th grade teacher. "I really honed in on that age group. They're so smart, and one thing I noticed as a teacher is they love cutting-edge science," she said, "and they love debating big questions."

Children at that age have such big feelings, she said, and older people can relate to that time.

"It's just such a mess of feelings and learning and new experiences, the perfect time to have something dramatic happen to a novel protagonist," Perry said.

Her mother is from New Boston and her father's from Texarkana. They worked at Red River Army Depot, so the family traveled when she was a child. She graduated from Redwater after living in Germany and Massachusetts.

"It would be my home base that we would always go back to," Perry said about the Texarkana area. Her parents encouraged her writing adventures from a young age.

After being a teacher, Perry and her family moved to Arkansas a few years ago, where she's been writing, trying to win the lottery (with her husband's backing) and now raising her toddler

She quickly wrote a rough draft of "Pighearted" after hearing that NPR story, but an extensive editing process ensued. It took about a year to find a form that made her happy, and then she got her agent on board. Eventually, a Little, Brown and Co. editor showed interest.

"We have been working on it this past year getting it all ready, getting the piggy ready to go to market," Perry quipped.

What does she hope a young reader gets from her book? She herself doesn't have a strong opinion about what was planned for J6 and his pig heart, whether it would be morally just or not to use it to save a human.

"But I hope that it can help kids to think critically about these big questions and try to come up with those answers on their own. Rather than me telling them what to think, I want them to practice that critical thinking," Perry said. "I also think it's got a strong message about never giving up on the people that you love and always trying to fight to help others. Both the pig and the boy want to save the other one."

The book will be available in ebook ($9.99) and hardcover ($16.99) formats. The publisher likens it to "Charlotte's Web" and "My Sister's Keeper."

(On the Net: AlexPerryBooks.com. Publisher book link: www.lbyr.com/titles/alex-perry/pighearted/9780316538800.)

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