Don't Forget the Bacon! is a children's book written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins. It was published by Bodley Head in 1976. The story is about a little boy who tries to memorise a list of groceries his mother has asked him to buy. The book has been used as a teaching tool to instruct children about early learning concepts.
In an analysis of teaching tools for remedial readers, Maurice Saxby notes in the book Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning, "Hutchins's Don't Forget the Bacon has been one of my most successful texts." Andrea Hillbrick's Tuning in with Task Cards includes a teaching lesson structured around the boy's shopping list from the story. The book Foundation Blocks suggests Don't Forget the Bacon! be used to teach children about the concept of miscommunication, and Bilinguality and Literacy lists the story among those used to help assist a bilingual child develop fluency in English.
Don't Forget the Bacon! was a success in England and the United States, and received positive reception from the American Library Association, and The Washington Post. The story was recommended in 2005 as part of a children's reading challenge announced by the Education Minister for New South Wales, Australia, and included in suggested reading by The Times as part of the 2008 recognition of World Book Day.
Plot
A little boy leaves his home with his dog to shop for food items for his mother, and attempts to remember the list of things she wanted him to buy. The original request from his mother is "six farm eggs, a cake for tea, a pound of pears, and don't forget the bacon". Along with the dog, he is accompanied by a butterfly. In order to avoid forgetting items, the boy recites his mother's list to himself. Throughout his trip to the grocery store, the boy sees things along the way that play tricks with his memory, and items on his list one-by-one become substituted with other goods. For the first item, "six farm eggs" becomes "six fat legs", then "six clothes pegs". The second one, "A cake for tea" becomes "a cape for me", then "a rake for leaves". Finally, for the third, "a pound of pears" becomes "A flight of stairs", then "a pile of chairs". By the end of his trip, the boy has forgotten the initial items requested, and supplants them in his mind with "six clothes pegs, a rake for leaves, a pile of chairs, and don't forget the bacon". Then he goes to the junk shop and says to a merchant there, "six clothes pegs, a rake for leaves, and a pile of chairs please!". Before the boy is about to buy the six clothes pegs, the rake for leaves, and the pile of chairs, the merchant gets confused from the boy's grocery list (requested by his mother). The merchant in the junk shop, he then assists the boy in completing the odd list.
The merchant knows that the boy was given a correct list, but it was "six clothes pegs, a rake for leaves, and a pile of chairs" that the boy asked for instead. While traveling back to his home, he remembers the original items (on his and his mother's grocery list). After he remembers the original items that his mother requested, he corrects his mistakes while traveling back home. Then on the way home, he says to himself, "Six farm eggs, a cake for tea, and a pound of pears". After saying that, he is content that he has remembered those three items. However, he has forgotten the bacon. At that, he says out loud, "I forgot the bacon!", and his mother gasps out loud.
The final page depicts the child carrying a basket and a coin purse, taking his dog attached to a leash on a trip to get the bacon.