Module 3: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire.  Well, one Caldecott winner to go, and this one is not only older, it's more controversial.  It's not that controversial now; heck, the scandalous part is amusing now.  This book is Shrek author William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, winner of the 1970 Caldecott Award.

Citation: Steig, William (1969).  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.  New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Summary:  While wandering around, Sylvester the donkey (of doubtful relation to Donkey the donkey) finds a magical pebble that grants his wishes.  However, when attacked by a lion, he makes a foolish wish to be turned into a rock.  Now unable to use his magic pebble to change himself back, Sylvester is trapped for months as a rock, and his parents are scared, then sad, for what may have happened to their son.

Impressions:  This is a sign that books for small children can still have good drama, at least for me.  Sylvester is presented as a normal donkey, not a jerk who had something coming, but a completely innocent person who just made one mistake.  As a result, it's easy to feel scared along with his parents, feel sad for them when their search turns up nothing, and happy for all of them at the end, when they are reunited.  The artwork is OK, but the story is where the book really shines.

Uses: The controversial part of the book comes from one page where the police Sylvester's parents go to are portrayed as pigs.  That's it.  That is the whole controversy in a nutshell.  In 1969, that made sense.  In 2013, not so much.  As such, this book loans itself really well to a demonstration of controversial books, whether they're still controversial today or if they're perfectly acceptable now.

To close, I quote Abbey Anclaude, "Sylvester's humorous illustrations of fully dressed farm animals conducting daily business upright are set against the simple and endearing text...Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was recognized by the California Teachers' Association as one of the 100 Best Books of the Century. The good news is that Sylvester will continue to delight young readers for centuries to come."


Sources:
Anclaude, Abbey (Aug, 1999).  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble review | BookPage.  BookPage. Retrieved from http://bookpage.com/review/sylvester-and-the-magic-pebble-hardcover/sylvester-and-the-magic-pebble-review