Pete & Pickles is a children's book written by Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed, first published in 2008.
Pete is a "perfectly predictable", "perfectly practical" pig. His "perfectly uncomplicated" life gets disrupted one night when a runaway circus elephant named Pickles takes hostage in his home. Though Pete initially decides to return her back, he soon has a sudden change of heart when the porcine realizes that Pickles may need a friend. But unbeknownst to the practical Pete, Pickles has some rather unpredictable plans, which may end up breaking Pete's uncomplicated world as he knows it.
Soon to have a very loose Actionized Adaptation called Hitpig, which is set for a 2023/24 release.
Compare and contrast Elephant & Piggie, another literary elephant and pig duo, except the genders and personalities of the characters are reversed.
Pete & Pickles contains examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: "Pete was a perfectly predictable pig..."
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Pickles is a rather saturated blue.
- Art Shift: Like most of Berkeley Breathed's children's books, the illustrations frequently shift from Bloom County style sketches to fully rendered paintings.
- And the Adventure Continues: After Pete and Pickles are rescued by the firemen nearly unconscious, the story ends with them waking up the next morning engaging the photo above, as if nothing happened.
- Bathtub Scene: In one scene, Pete reads The New York Times in the tub while Pickles scrubs his back. The bathtub also causes the flood that occurs in the story's climax.
- Brainy Pig: Pete seems to be the more intellectual of the duo.
- Catchphrase: "Ridiculous!"
- Crappy Carnival: The circus that Pickles resides in appears to be such.
- Disguised in Drag: Pete's Totem Pole Trench involves him posing as a woman.
- Drowning Pit: The climax of the story involves Pete's house being flooded, with Pickles being trapped inside due to her size.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Part of Pete's perfectly predictable routine involves him vacuuming his wife's grave.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Pete on occasions.
- The Hermit: It is implied that Pete does not leave beyond the perimeters of his home that often until Pickles enters his life.
- Indubitably Uninteresting Individual: Pete, who desires for his life to be perfectly practical, predictable and uncomplicated. He breaks out of this by the story's end.
- The Lost Lenore: Although it's not directly mentioned in the text; it is very heavily implied that Pete is the way he is because he had lost his wife Paprika not too long ago.
- Loud Sleeper Gag: Occurs when Pickles starts to sleep on Pete's couch.
- Mr. Imagination: Pickles likes to imagine herself doing things in far off places, and bringing Pete along for the ride.
- Neat Freak: Pete, who seems to spend a lot of his days needless cleaning his home, and has to wear a hazmat suit when an actual mess enters his home.
- "Nighthawks" Shot: When Pete and Pickles go to "Tahiti" for brunch.
- Mythology Gag: The usage of dandelions as a symbol of hope brings to mind author Breathed's more more popular creation.
- Odd Couple: Pete and Pickles.
- The Pollyanna: Pickles always keeps a smile, even as she is taken back to the circus and later when she nearly drowns.
- The Power of Friendship: The story is essentially about how a friendship may break up someone's perception of what normal might be, but also make it better.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Pete is the Savvy Guy to Pickles' Energetic Girl.
- Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Pete is an anthropomorphic talking pig who lives in a house, while Pickles is, for the most part, a bipedal animal who is handled by humans prior to Pete's interference and never actually talks in the book.
- Totem Pole Trench: This is how Pete is able to get Pickles out of the circus.
