Module 3 - Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Summary


Sylvester and the Magic Pebble tells the story of Sylvester, a donkey who likes rocks.  One day, he goes for a walk.  On this walk, he finds a magic red pebble.  While holding it, he makes a wish and the wish suddenly comes true.  He makes another wish as a test and it also comes true!  He knows then that he has a magical pebble.  Suddenly, Sylvester sees a lion.  He panics and wishes to be a rock so the lion cannot hurt him.  He becomes a rock but when this happens, he drops the magic pebble so he can't turn himself back into a donkey.  His family misses and worries about him, and he is very sad.  One day, his mother and father go for a picnic.  They sit at the rock that is Sylvester.  His father notices the magic pebble and remembering that his son loved interesting rocks, picks it up and puts it on Sylvester's back.  They begin to talk about missing Sylvester.  He hears and wishes to be himself again.  Because the magic pebble is touching him, the wish comes true and he is reunited with his family.

My impressions

I remember loving this book as a child, and re-reading it reminded me of how sweet it is.  As a child, I understood the deep love between Sylvester and his parents, as well as the feeling of loss on both sides when he goes missing.  Now that I am older, I appreciate even more the depiction of parental love; Sylvester's parents obviously care for him but Steig manages to express this without any of the creepy stalker undertones that some books have (i.e. Runaway Bunny from Module 1).  The pictures are very cute and tell the story as well as the text does.  I think this book would work well for both younger and older readers.

Reviews

This book is well-received by critics also, with School Library Journal reviewers voting it on to their list of the top 100 picture books.  Several reviewers mention the engaging emotional depth of the book as one of its key attributes.  Reviewers noted that this was 9 out of 10 readers' favorite Steig title.

Use in a library

This story could be used in many ways in a library.  Because this book is so emotive, it would be fun to have children act it out.  It would also be fun to use this book as a way to teach adaptation, and have kids write their own magic object stories.  I love William Steig's work, so it would be great to use this book to open a Steig series and get kids talking about several of his books, and comparing them. 

References

Bird, E. (2012). Top 100 picture books #55: Sylvester and the magic pebble by William Steig.  School Library Journal.  Retrieved from http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/25/top-100-picture-books-55-sylvester-and-the-magic-pebble-by-william-steig/.

Steig, W. (2005). Sylvester and the magic pebble.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.