With that wrinkly nose and those rascally ways, who could resist him?

Kathryn Thurman’s new children’s book “Garden for Pig” was inspired by her step-sister’s pet pig named Basil. Originally for sale at the county fair, he was scooped up and brought home to the family farm on Orcas, where he lived the rest of his days.

Thurman first had the idea of featuring him in a book when she discovered his gardening skills.

“I walked into his pen, and there was a squash plant,” she said. “He’d eaten the squash, tilled the dirt, and nature took its course. He planted his own garden.”

Basil had full reign of the property, swimming in the pond and playing hide and seek.

“He was a local star,” Thurman said. “He really was an educator, even then. She had so many kids who came over. We had to show great respect for Basil. We couldn’t call him bacon or pork chop. He was her beloved pet.”

Thurman will read from “Garden for Pig,” which has just been published by Kane Miller, in the children’s section of Darvill’s Bookstore at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28.

This is Thurman’s first published children’s book. She is also a painter, with work at Crow Valley. She moved to Orcas five years ago from Woodinville with her husband, Bret, and their two kids, Owen, 11, and Evelyn, 7. They have three dogs and two cats at home.

Thurman initially wrote Basil’s story several years ago, but shelved the idea when it just wasn’t clicking. After working with best-selling children’s author Bonnie Becker for a year on story structure, Thurman gave it another shot.

And then a little magic happened.

“Bonnie told me I had a winner,” she said. “Three weeks later I had sold it.”

Publishing house Kane Miller matched Thurman with artist Lindsay Ward to illustrate the book.

“It became everybody’s baby,” Thurman said. “It’s not just mine anymore.”

Thurman has self-published a children’s book “Evelyn’s Angels,” and is currently writing a middle-grade (ages 8-12) novel about two friends on an island who find a dinosaur fossil while searching for a lost hamster.

“I am lucky that my family makes room for my writing and painting,” Thurman said. “But I am a mom first. They are my works of art.”