The Sheep-Pig
#2854.06 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 1983–1990 Reading commitment Low Dick King-Smith Last reviewed 2026-10-05
Overview
Dick King-Smith's 1983 story of Babe, the orphaned piglet won at a fair who is raised by a sheepdog and learns to herd Farmer Hogget's sheep by asking them politely, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and became the film Babe (1995); its sequel Ace (1990) follows Babe's great-grandson, a pig who understands human speech and ends up on television. King-Smith, a Gloucestershire farmer for twenty years before he wrote a word, called his animal stories farmyard fantasy: talking farm animals in an entirely realistic English countryside. Published in the United States as Babe, the Gallant Pig and Ace: The Very Important Pig.
Comic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
Babe Dick King-Smith
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Sheep-Pig | 1983 | 1 | core | 4.10 (16,657 ratings) |
 | Ace: The Very Important Pig | 1990 | 2 | core | 3.88 (3,239 ratings) |
Dick King-Smith's 'farmyard fantasy' of Farmer Hogget's talking farm: Babe, the orphaned piglet who learns to herd sheep with courtesy, and his great-grandson Ace, who understands human speech. The first was filmed as Babe (1995).
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Sheep-Pig? The Sheep-Pig's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Sheep-Pig? Publication order, starting with The Sheep-Pig. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Sheep-Pig finished? Complete (1983–1990).
- How much reading does The Sheep-Pig take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~252 pages).
- How is The Sheep-Pig ranked? #285 in this site's official ranking, based on 19,896 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #285?
Ranked #285 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.06 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (19,896 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #284, Tales of the Otori (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 2 books · Complete · 20k ratings · Ranks #285 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment comic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Sheep-Pig (1983)
- Ace: The Very Important Pig (1990)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, 1984: won: The Sheep-Pig
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.06 across 19,896 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Sheep-Pig (Dick King-Smith) accepted 2026-10-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-05
Rule: Core Canon = The Sheep-Pig (1983) and Ace: The Very Important Pig (1990). King-Smith's many other animal stories are separate worlds.