Teacher’s notes
LEVEL 2
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
Babe – Pig in the City
Dick King-Smith
About the author
Babe – Pig in the City, continues the story of Babe – The
Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith which is also a Level 2
book in the Penguin Readers series.
Dick King-Smith was a farmer for twenty years and a
teacher before he became a writer of children’s stories.
Summary
Chapter 1: Babe, the clever pig, lives on Hoggett’s Farm
where he helps Mr Hoggett to look after the sheep.
Mr Hoggett falls into a well on the farm. While he is
recovering in bed, people from the bank come to the
farm asking for a lot of money. Mr Hoggett hasn’t got the
money. Mrs Hoggett finds a letter which asks for Babe,
the Sheep-pig to work away from the farm. Mrs Hoggett
decides to travel to the city with Babe so they can earn
money to help the farm. Babe says goodbye to his friend
Ferdinand, the duck.
Chapter 2: Mrs Hoggett and Babe travel to the airport
and take the plane to the city. Ferdinand tries to follow
them, but cannot fly as fast as the plane. A group of birds
guide Ferdinand to the city, but the duck arrives long after
Mrs Hoggett and Babe have landed. At the city airport,
drug dogs search all the baggage. Babe asks the dogs what
they are doing. They explain they are searching for drugs.
One of the dogs stands on Mrs Hoggett’s bag and barks.
The police think that Mrs Hoggett is carrying drugs. They
arrest and search her. Of course, she has no drugs, but she
misses her next flight.
She tries to find a hotel in the city but none of them will
accept Babe. Eventually, she finds a very old hotel called
Flealands. Mrs Hoggett and Babe go the Flealands Hotel
and discover that many different animals live there.
c Pearson Education Limited 2008
Chapter 3: The landlady of the Flealands Hotel take Mrs
Hoggett and Babe to the top floor. On the way, they see
many different animals, including two dogs called Nigel
and Alan. They also see a third dog, called Flealick who
has wheels on his back legs. On the top floor there are
a lot of cats. The landlady says that Babe must not go
out. Babe goes to the window and looks for some sheep.
He begins to understand that life in the city will be very
different from the farm. A small monkey called Tug,
comes into the room. Tug opens Mrs Hoggett’s bag and
three mice from the farm jump out. Tug takes the bag
and rushes down to a room on the lower floor. In the
room, Babe meets a chimpanzee called Zootie. She has
a fat stomach and is dressed in a pretty dress. Babe does
not understand why an animal is wearing human clothes.
Babe sees Zootie’s husband Bob who is also dressed in
human clothes. Babe also meets Bob’s younger brother,
a chimpanzee called Easy. A orang-utan called Thelonius
comes into the room. He is wearing a black coat and
trousers. Babe explains that he is a sheep-pig and says he
wants Mrs Hoggett’s bag.
A man dressed as a clown comes into the room. His name
is Fugly Floom. He is the uncle of the landlady. He puts
Babe in a box. Mrs Hoggett comes in. She can’t see Babe
and thinks he has escaped into the city.
Chapter 4: She goes out into the streets to find Babe.
A young man wearing rollerblades tries to steal Mrs
Hoggett’s bag. Fugly Floom takes Babe and some
chimpanzees to the hospital where he will put on a
magic show for the children. He pretends to cut Babe
in half. He tries to fire a ball from a big guan and starts
a small fire in the hospital.
Back at the hotel Fugly Floom is tired. Babe is hungry
and he wants his money. He thinks his new job is to work
with Fugly Floom. Babe is unhappy. Bob the chimpanzee
explains ‘This is the city. Nobody wins in the city. And
nobody helps anybody. Understand?’
Ferdinand the duck arrives in the city and starts to search
for Babe.
Chapter 5: Babe leaves the hotel with some of the other
animals to look for food. They meet some dangerous dogs,
two Dobermans and a bull terrier. They find the place
where stray animals live in boxes. The dogs chase Babe
and the bull terrier falls into the river. He cannot swim
but Babe saves him. Babe is now famous because he saved
the bull terrier.
Babe – Pig in the City - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
LEVEL 2
Babe – Pig in the City
Chapter 6: Back at the hotel Babe begins to sing.
Ferdinand hears Babe’s song and flies to meet Babe.
The people who live near the hotel also hear Babe’s song
and call the police. The animals fight with the police.
Ferdinand finds Babe and says ‘Pig, listen to me. You’re
the only pig in the city. What can you do? What can
anybody do?’
Chapter 7: The police catch Mrs Hoggett and she tells
them her story. A kind detective understands that Mrs
Hoggett is a good woman and lets her go. Mrs Hoggett
goes back to Flealands Hotel and talks to the landlady.
Babe leads the animals to the Children’s Hospital. They
find the kitchens and then a big restaurant. The cooks
and waiters try to catch the animals. Mrs Hoggett and the
landlady from the hotel arrive, and they help the animals
to escape.
elderly Hollywood star, Mickey Rooney played the part of
Fugly Floom. Although the city in the film is a fictional
city, Metropolis, it has many similarities to the island of
Manhattan.
According to the RSPCA and the animal trainers,
no animal was harmed in the making of this film.
Animatronics, prosthetic animals and special effects were
used to simulate all scenes, which seemed to place the
animals in jeopardy.
Babe – Pig in the City was less successful than the original
Babe film possibly because the violence in the simulated
fights between animals disturbed some child viewers.
Key characters
Farmer Hoggett: the owner of the farm at Hoggett’s
Hollow
Chapter 8: The Flealands Hotel becomes a disco. The
neighbours are angry because of the loud music.
Mrs Hoggett: his wife who takes Babe to the city
The landlady uses the money from the hotel to take all the
animals to Hoggett’s Farm. She also pays the money to the
bank. The animals and all the humans are happy.
Ferdinand: a duck from the farm and Babe’s friend who
follows him to the city
Background and themes
Babe – Pig in the City is about the contrast between the
farm and the city. Babe is an intelligent pig, but he does
not understand the behaviour of characters who live in
cities.
Babe: the intelligent sheep-pig who is the hero of the story
The landlady: who owns Flealands Hotel
Fugly Floom: the uncle of the landlady who works as a
clown entertaining children at the local hospital
Zootie: the chimpanzee who is pregnant at the beginning
of the story. Her husband is Bob.
Innocence: Babe is an innocent in a foreign place.
Flealick: a disabled dog with wheels replacing his back legs
Trust: Most of the animals on the farm trust each other,
they are not suspicious of the motives of others.
Discussion activities
Homelessness: Babe is shocked to find the cats and dogs
which have been abandoned.
Tolerance: The people who live near the hotel are
intolerant of the animals and later the noise from the
dance club.
About the film
Babe – Pig in the City (1998) was a follow-up to the
original Babe film. It used the same techniques combining
trained animals with animatronics and human actors.
Karl Lewis Miller and Steve Martin were the leading
animal trainers. The film was made largely in Australia.
The Orang-utan came from Singapore and the monkeys
and chimpanzees from California. A total of 799 animals
took part in the film. Amongst the human actors, the
c Pearson Education Limited 2008
Introduction
Before reading
1 Discuss: Get the students to discuss intelligence
in animals. Which are the most intelligent animals?
Are horses more intelligent than sheep? Are cats more
intelligent than chimpanzees? Dick King-Smith, the
author, was a farmer for 20 years, and he says that pigs
are very intelligent. Do you think he is right?
2 Discuss: Find the students in the class who have
seen the first Babe film, or read the book. Ask them
to tell the other students about the story using the
words below: farmer farm sheep sheep-dog sheep-pig
competition winner
3 Predict: Get the students to focus on the title Babe –
Pig in the City and ask them to guess what is going to
happen in the story. As a class, have them raise their
hands to decide which sentences are right and which
are wrong.
a Babe goes to the city and works with sheep in the
city.
Babe – Pig in the City - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
LEVEL 2
Babe – Pig in the City
b Babe goes to the city and thinks it is very nice
there.
c Babe goes to the city but he doesn’t like it.
4 Discuss: Tell students to read the Introduction and
answer the questions:
a Where is Farmer Hoggett’s farm?
b What do the men from the bank want?
c Where does Mrs Hoggett find a letter?
d How can Babe help Farmer Hoggett?
e How do Mrs Hoggett and Babe go to the city?
f Why is it difficult to find a hotel for them?
g What does Fugly Floom do?
Chapters 1–2
Before reading
5 Discuss: Talk about farms. Discuss this question:
What do farmers do? Tick 3 the correct answers.
a Farmers look after cows and collect milk.
b Farmers grow plants for food.
c Farmers look after sheep for meat and wool.
d Farmers make electricity from animals.
e Farmers grow trees for wood and fruit.
f Farmers look after pigs for meat.
g Farmers look after chickens for meat and eggs.
h Farmers grow chips to make computers.
After reading
6 Vocabulary: Ask students to use these words to
complete the sentences:
airport bank camera detective well
a A ……… is a hole in the ground where people get
water.
b A ……… is a small machine for taking pictures.
c A ……… is a place where they keep and lend
money.
d A ……… is a person who works with the police.
e An ……… is a place where people get on and get
off planes.
7 Role play: In pairs ask students to role play either
a conversation between Babe and his best friend,
Ferdinand the duck, or a conversation between the
detective and Mrs Hoggett when he looks at her bag.
Use the notes below.
a Ferdinand: Ask Babe why he is going away.
Babe: Tell Ferdinand about the bank and the letter
Mrs Hoggett found.
Ferdinand: Ask Babe where he is going.
Babe: Tell Ferdinand that you are going to the city.
Tell him that you are going to do a new job and
make some money.
Ferdinand: Tell Babe you are very sad he is going
because he is your best friend.
Babe: Say goodbye to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand: Say goodbye to Babe.
b The detective asks Mrs Hoggett what she has got in
her bag. Mrs Hoggett tells the detective all the things
she has in her bag. The detective asks Mrs Hoggett
c Pearson Education Limited 2008
what is in the box. Mrs Hoggett explains that Babe,
the famous sheep-pig is in the box. The detective asks
her if she has any drugs. Mrs Hoggett says she hasn’t.
The detective tells her she can go.
Chapters 3–4
Before reading
8 Discuss: Do you live in a city or in the countryside?
What is good and bad about living in a city? What is
good and bad about living in the countryside? Are people
more friendly in the city or in the countryside, or are
people the same?
While reading
9 Write: Ask the students to write about the characters
in Chapters 3– 4, like this: The Landlady of the
Flealands Hotel keeps a lot of animals. She doesn’t want
the people who live near the Flealands Hotel to know
about her animals.
Ask the students to write notes about:
a Flealick
b Tug
c Zootie
d Bob
e Easy
f Thelonius
g Fugly Floom h the young man on Rollerblades
i Ferdinand
After reading
10 Artwork: Ask students to draw a picture of Fugly
Floom’s magic trick, e.g. draw him cutting Babe in
half.
Chapters 5–6
Before reading
11 Predict: Tell students that Babe is hungry. Where can
he go to find some food?
After reading
12 Discuss: Have students discuss these questions: What
happens to dogs and cats without homes in your country?
Is it right or is it wrong? How can you help dogs and cats
without homes?
Chapters 7–8
Before reading
13 Artwork: Have students draw pictures of these things:
a a bicycle-for-two
b braces
c a chandelier
d a balcony
After reading
14 Write: The woman in the house across the river near
the Flealands Hotel doesn’t like DANCELANDS. She
writes a letter to her local newspaper. Ask students to
write her letter.
15 Discuss: Have students discuss this: What do the other
animals at Hoggett Hollow think about the animals
from Flealands?
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.
Babe – Pig in the City - Teacher’s notes of 3