Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig ISBN: 0-671-66269-4 Publisher: Aladdin Library Pub. Date: 02 April, 1987 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.72 (32 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: If Wishes Were Things, Where Would We Be?
Comment: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble won the Caldecott Medal as the best illustrated children's story of 1970. The images stand out for their tender renditions of emotion in the faces and bodies of the animals in the illustrations. Nature is rendered in just as malleable a way to emphasize the changes going on in the story.
The story itself is a variation of the familiar theme of the grass being greener on the other side. In typical fashion, that fable theme is carried out here through many trials and tribulations that will help your child appreciate the joys of what otherwise would be consider humdrum. The strength of the story is the way the moral is made more explicit than in most other versions of this theme.
This book will never be forgotten by any child who reads it, and should be enjoyed by most children beginning around age 3. Fascination will tend to dull after age 6.
Sylvester Duncan (a donkey) lived with his parents. His favorite activity was to collect pebbles of unusual shapes and colors. One rainy Saturday during vacation, he was alone when he found a quite extraordinary one. It was "flaming red, shiny, and perfectly round, like a marble." Shivering in the rain, he wished that the sun would come out . . . and it did. The rain stopped so fast, "It CEASED." "It struck him that magic must be at work . . . ." He "guessed that the magic must be in the . . . pebble."
He then ran three tests. He started the rain, stopped it again, and got rid of a wart on his left hind fetlock.
Excited, he headed back home.
He ran into a lion. Startled, he made a wish without thinking. "I wish I were a rock." Well, he succeeded. The lion left.
The only trouble was, the pebble fell away from Sylvester. He could no longer hold it to make more wishes come true. He wished away, but still stayed a rock. It was a very dull occupation.
His parents were frantic, and started a massive search. Even the dogs could do no good because Sylvester smelled like a rock rather than himself. A year passed slowly.
Then through happenstance, the pebble touches Sylvester again. When he wished to be Sylvester again, he changed back in a twinkling!
The Duncan family was delighted to be reunited.
"Mr. Duncan put the magic pebble in an iron safe." "Some day they might want to use it, but really, for now, what more could they wish for?"
"They had all they wanted."
As you can see, this story is good for dealing with issues like your child's concerns about losing her or his parents, separation anxiety, the dangers of leaving home, and "magic" based fears. You can provide lots of encouraging reassurance as you read the story, explaining how your child's situation is much different from Sylvester's.
The illustrations pick up on the language in the story, so this book will be one of the easier books for you child to learn to read when he or she is around 5 or 6.
After you finish the story, I suggest that you ask your child what she or he would wish for if a magic pebble came along. Then talk about how one might obtain something just as good or better through your family's own efforts . . . without the benefit of magic. This can help your child appreciate the magic of mind and spirit within each of us to turn worthwhile wishes into reality. You can point out that this method has an advantage. It never turned anyone into a rock by accident!
Touch the magical imagination of your child to create a world of real potential for both of you!
Rating: 5
Summary: Do you believe in magic (pebbles)?
Comment: A worrisome tale wrought with sorrow and, ultimately, joy. But, just the same, a worrisome tale. 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. But as I said, all turns out well in the end.
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. Perhaps this story won the 1970 Caldecott medal because it does go so far as to directly touch on this most sensitive of topics. At the same time, this may be a kids book but it's too much for me. Silly, isn't it? I can zip through William Styron's "Sophie's Choice" and have a grand old time, but "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" reduces me to a pile of wobbling jello. Enjoy with caveats galore.
Rating: 4
Summary: A rock forever?
Comment: Sylvester the donkey collects rocks, and when he finds a special one, he adds it to his collection. While holding it , he wishes for the rain to stop, and it does. Finding that the pebble is magic, Sylvester hurries on his way to tell his parents. However, on the way home, he is confronted by a lion hungry for donkey for lunch. Remembering the magic pebble, Sylvester wishes to be a rock. Bad decision! With no way of holding the rock, Sylvester cannot change himself back to a donkey after the threat is gone. Will he be a rock forever?
Great story, Caldecott medal winner. Subtly teaches your kids that "things" aren't the important things in life, your family is. Short and enjoyable, this is one your kids won't ever want to part with and will pass on to their children.
 |
Title: Amos & Boris by William Steig ISBN: 0374403600 Publisher: Sunburst Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: Doctor De Soto by William Steig ISBN: 0374418101 Publisher: Sunburst Pub. Date: 30 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: The Amazing Bone by William Steig ISBN: 0374403589 Publisher: Sunburst Pub. Date: 01 April, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: Brave Irene by William Steig ISBN: 0374409277 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 01 April, 1988 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: Shrek! by William Steig ISBN: 0374466238 Publisher: Sunburst Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
