| Pig Heart Boy | |
| Author: | Malorie Blackman |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Children's |
| Publisher: | Corgi Books (UK) Doubleday (US) |
| English Pub Date: | 1997 |
| Pages: | 256 |
Pig-Heart Boy is a children's novel by Malorie Blackman, which was first published in 1997. It shows the life of a teenage boy who undergoes a heart transplant.[1] [2] It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and adapted into a television series, which was broadcast by Children's BBC in 1999.[3]
Thirteen-year-old Cameron Kelsey has a serious heart condition and really needs a new heart. He gets the opportunity to get a new heart but it’s not a human heart, it’s a pig heart. He under goes the surgery but it fails the heart doesn't work and he under goes different surgeries.
In 1999, the BBC made a six-part television adaptation of the novel. Although the television adaptation was overall quite faithful to the book, some aspects were changed, including some characters' names (for example, Dr. Bryce is labelled Professor Rae in the television version), and also the fact that Cam had not been the first patient to have had a pig transplant with Dr. Bryce/Professor Rae. The series also ended with Alex being born, while the book merely ends with Cam's decision to accept the second heart transplant.
The television adaptation won the BAFTA Award for Children's Drama in 2000.[4]