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Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback) (Paperback)
by William Steig (Illustrator)
| Category:
Animal Fantasy, Picture books, Ages 4-8, Children's books |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A magic pebble that will grant your every wish! A bliss or a disaster for the little donkey? Kids will never forget this fantasy story with great fun and learning. |
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Author: William Steig (Illustrator)
Publisher: Aladdin
Pub. in: April, 1987
ISBN: 0671662694
Pages: 32
Measurements: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00387
Other information: Reissue edition
ISBN-13: 978-0671662691
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- Awards & Credential -
A winner of the Caldecott Medal as the best illustrated children's story of 1970. |
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- MSL Picks -
In this classic Steig work, a young donkey comes across a magic pebble. The pebble is round and smooth and a brilliant red. Entranced by it, Sylvester finds that he can wish for whatsoever he chooses and instantly receive it. Overjoyed he turns for home, but finds himself confronting a hungry lion. In his haste and fear, Sylvester accidentally wishes he were a rock. Unfortunately, this wish works but leaves Sylvester trapped in his new rocky form. And when his parents look for him high and low and cannot find him, Sylvester is believed to be forever lost...
Steig addresses the theme of children's fears of separation from their parents, as well as their fears and terrors and even wishes for radical transformations. Steig uses realistic fiction and animal fantasy in this book. This is true because the book is about animals doing human like things, which is Animal Fantasy. This book does not overly teach a moral and is mostly an enjoyable read. The language is concrete and vivid and not overly complex. This story primarily names characters and their actions, nothing too hard for a child to put together.
This story is somewhat heart-wrenching to parents. Certainly the kids that read it will understand how sad Sylvester would be to potentially never return home again. And parents reading this will be overwhelmed with the emotions involved with the loss of a child. Sylvester's sweet story is one that endures, reminding us all that sometimes what we have is all we really need.
- From quoting Amanda Swanson and E. R. Bird
Target readers:
Kids aged 4-8
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William Steig's work has been widely acclaimed. His cartoons in such magazines as the New Yorker and his books of symbolic drawings have inspired cartoonists and artists everywhere, and his books for children are loved by readers both young and old.
Born in New York City into a family of artists, Mr. Steig now lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
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From the publisher
On a rainy day, Sylvester finds a magic pebble that can make wishes come true. But when a lion frightens him on his way home, Sylvester makes a wish that brings unexpected results.
How Sylvester is eventually reunited with his loving family and restored to his true self makes a story that is beautifully tender and filled with magic. Illustrated with William Steig's glowing pictures, this is a modern classic beloved by children everywhere.
Selected as one of the 100 Best Books of the Century by the National Education Association.
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| View all 6 comments |
Roz Levine (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-20 00:00>
Sylvester Duncan, a nice little donkey who lives with his mother and father collects pebbles of interesting shapes and colors. One rainy day, he finds a most remarkable bright red, shiny, round pebble on Strawberry Hill and as he examines it, feeling the cold rain on his back, he wishes it would stop raining. And it does. In the blink of an eye, the rain is gone and the sun is shining. Sylvester realizes that he has found a magic pebble, one that grants wishes and he begins to think of all the wonderful things he and his family and friends can wish for to make their lives happier. But at that moment, he looks up and sees a hungry lion looking at him and panics. Instead of wishing that the lion would disappear, he wishes he were a rock. And he becomes a rock. Unfortunately, the magic pebble is lying on the ground next to him, not on him and so even though he wishes and wishes that he were back to his old self again, nothing happens. As summer turns to fall, fall turns to winter and winter to spring, poor Sylvester, the rock, is stuck up on Strawberry Hill, missing his parents and trying to find a way back to his old self... Award winning author and illustrator, William Steig, has written a charming and tender story about the meaning of true happiness, that's perfect for youngsters 4-8. In his very gentle way, he lets children discover that it's not always what you want that will make you happy, but what you already have. This simple, magical text, coupled with his wonderfully expressive cartoon-like artwork will capture children's imaginations as they wait to see if Sylvester will ever find a way to make his most important wish come true, to turn back into his old donkey self and be with his family. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is sure to become a classic and is a story your kids will want to read again and again. |
Kristin Ferguson (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-20 00:00>
Sylvester can't be beat. The story is so good, even after 30 years, that I buy it for every child I know. The illustrations are beautiful, the colors vivid. The story perfectly piques the interest of a small child, and Sylvester's predicament is tragic -but funny. Perfect suspense. Right down to the fact that in this barnyard world, the police are pigs. Extremely cute and amusing. |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-20 00:00>
William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is one of the greatest picture books yet written. Steig is really the master of the genre.
The story is of Sylvester, who is accidentally turned into a rock by a magic pebble. This horrid situation causes Sylvester and his family to realize the true love they have shared and tosses them into total boredom with life. They have to find a way to get back to one another.
The book is so moving. The pictures are beautiful as is the prose. The story teaches the joy of love that families should share. It can also be read on an even deeper level as a metaphor for death and the redemptive power of love. Overall, this is an entertaining and brilliant book which can pack an enormous punch within its few pages. |
Eugene Benoit (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-20 00:00>
This is quite a touching story filled with lots of symbolism. It actually hits home for a friend of mine. Her husband did not want to have a child and so she terminated her pregnancy out of great disappointment. The savegery of a lion serves as a symbol for what can take a child donkey away from you. The magic pebble is like God that wisks the donkey child away to safety. The wolf howling on the rock in the middle of winter is suffering from the pains of hunger, hunger to have a child back. You can think especially of a mother's pain when a child is gone and the hunger she has to have him back, sort of, the winter of her discontent. The donkey parents try their best to find joy despite their sadness, and, like in a dream come true, their son, Sylvester, is back. It says that even after a very catastrophic event to not lose hope no matter how terrible it can be. |
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