The Amazing Bone (Reading Rainbow Books) [Paperback]

William Steig (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Reading Rainbow Books

Can Pearl, a pig, and her new friend, a small talking bone, outwit a band of robbers and a hungry fox?

The Amazing Bone is a 1976 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year, a 1977 Caldecott Honor Book, and a 1977 Boston Globe - Horn Book Awards Honor Book for Picture Books.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pearl (a piglet) discovers a talking bone, which had fallen out of a witch's basket...This is a tight mesh of witty storytelling and art, bound to please any audience." --Starred, Booklist

"Steing's inspired language is a miraculous match for his pictures, lovely as well as funny."--Publishers Weekly

"Another Steig tour de force."--School Library Journal

About the Author

William Steig (1907-2003) was a cartoonist, illustrator and author of award-winning books for children, including Shrek!, on which the DreamWorks movies are based. Steig was born in New York City. Every member of his family was involved in the arts, and so it was no surprise when he decided to become an artist. He attended City College and the National Academy of Design. In 1930, Steig’s work began appearing in The New Yorker, where his drawings have been a popular fixture ever since. He published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968.

 

In 1970, Steig received the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. His books for children also include Dominic; The Real Thief; The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book; Amos & Boris, a National Book Award finalist; and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books. Steig's books have also received the Christopher Award, the Irma Simonton Black Award, the William Allen White Children's Book Award, and the American Book Award. His European awards include the Premio di Letteratura per l'infanzia (Italy), the Silver Pencil Award (the Netherlands), and the Prix de la Fondation de France. On the basis of his entire body of work, Steig was selected as the 1982 U.S. candidate for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration and subsequently as the 1988 U.S. candidate for Writing.

 

Stieg also published thirteen collections of drawings for adults, beginning with About People in 1939, and including The Lonely Ones, Male/Female, The Agony in the Kindergarten, and Our Miserable Life.

 

He died in Boston at the age of 95.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374403589
• ISBN-13: 978-0374403584
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.7 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( S ) > Steig, William

More About the Author

William Steig (1907-2003) published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968, and received the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (978-1416902065) in 1970. His works also include The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book, and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books. His most recent books published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux are Shrek! (released by DreamWorks as a major motion picture) and Wizzil, illustrated by Quentin Blake. School Library Journal named Shrek! a Best Book of 1990 and said of it, "Steig's inimitable wit and artistic dash have never been sharper or more expertly blended."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spring Fantasy, April 25, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Amazing Bone (Reading Rainbow Books) (Paperback)

Before talking generally about the book, let me share my reaction that children who are sensitive and easily develop fears may find this book to be too much for them. Read this book first before reading it to your child. The sections in question have robbers threatening to kill Pearl the Pig and a fox planning to do the same thing prior to eating Pearl. I found both situations a little rougher on the emotions than the standard Little Red Riding Hood fare in this regard.

This story was a Caldecott Honor book in 1977 as one of the best illustrated children's stories of that year. The book has many outstanding features. First, the watercolors and ink outlines nicely convey bright, spring colors and create a light mood. Second, the story has a very funny plot device in having a major character be a talking bone. Third, the plot reversals are quite sudden, dramatic, and emotionally laden. This book will make quite an impression on its readers. Fourth, the book raises very nice questions about all kinds of human relations that will keep you and your child talking for years.

Pearl the Pig dawdled in town after school. Her purpose was to watch the grownups doing their work, in order to think about what she might do when she grew up. She watched street cleaners, bakers, and "old guffers" pitching horseshoes.

Then she headed home through the forest. Once there, "she could almost feel herself changing into a flower" as she looked at the beautiful scene around her.

"I hear something."

"So do I," a voice answered. "I'm the bone in the violets near the tree by the rock on your right."

"You talk?"

"In any language . . . ." "And I can imitate any sound there is."

"How?"

"I don't know. I didn't make the world."

The bone reports that it fell out of a witch's basket in August. The bone didn't want to return. "I'd be happier with someone young and lively like you."

From out of nowhere, three armed highway robbers wearing masks rushed them, and threatened to shoot Pearl. The bone hissed like a snake and roared like a lion in her purse, and the robbers bolted.

Next a fox grabbed her. "You will be my main course tonight." The bone claimed to be a ravenous crocodile, but the fox was not fooled. The fox found the bone and put it in his pocket.

Just when the fox is about to do away with Pearl, the bone starts in incantation. The fox starts shrinking! Pearl is saved.

"I didn't know you could do magic!"

"Neither did I." The words "just came to me."

They went home and told Pearl's distraught parents about their adventures. The bone stayed and became part of the family. The bone rested in an honored place on a silver tray on the mantlepiece, except at night. Then, the Pearl took the bone to bed, and they talked and talked. They also sang.

The bone always kept the house full of music and sounds, even when the family didn't want them.

As you can see, without the extreme threats of violence, this is a very funny and original story. So if your child likes things a little on the scary side, this will be a five star book. If you child is timid on those issues, avoid this book until that changes. I averaged that perception out to four stars, assuming that most children around 6 could handle the threatened violence and the abductions well as fantasy.

The benefit, of course, of a story like this one is to open up the subject of what your child should be doing when alone, when in the presence of strangers alone, and how to handle the kind of events that parents don't like to even think about happening. A good way to begin this discussion is to ask your child what Pearl should have done differently. What could the bone have done differently? If the bone were another child, what should the other child have done? And so forth. You get the idea.

Would you like to have a talking bone as a friend? Personally, I'd like to find out more about what kind of music the bone likes to make first.

What would you like to do when you grow up?

Travel to the limits of imagination to find the potential for good in the world around us!

53 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully illustrated but not for young children., June 25, 2000

By 

"charlie4" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Amazing Bone (Reading Rainbow Books) (Paperback)

I bought this book based on the fact it was a Caldecott Honorable Mention and based on the reviews. I have to say my son loved the book until we got to the part where robbers in Halloween masks jump out of the bushes and put a gun to Pearl's head. Hello? You reviewers out there. My son (3, almost 4) was shocked. He asked a zillion questions about the robbers. Weren't they bad? Did they hurt Pearl? Why (how come) they were robbing her? The next day the questions continued. I bought 10 Caldecott books and we were reading the books right out of the box and I failed to preview the story. Big mistake. This book is charming and wonderful except for the robbery scene which is graphic and extremely disturbing. That scene also seems out of place. In my opinion, it does not belong in a children's book. Parents of young children--beware of this book. Adults, enjoy it.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That bone that bone's gonna get around, April 10, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Amazing Bone (Hardcover)

Why hello book of my youth! And may I say, how pleasant it is to read you once again. I know it's been at least 20 years since I was but a wee tot on my mother's knee. She would read "The Amazing Bone" to me time and time again, and I really did find it a delightful story. Now, years and years later, I read it again. There's something about a good Steig book. And to me, this is the most evocative of his stories. Oh, there are people firmly devoted to "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble". And I daresay "Shrek" and "Doctor De Soto" have their fans as well. But give me "The Amazing Bone" over these trifles any day. It's a warm ribald thoroughly satisfying tale of a young pig, a talking bone, and the troubles that ensue.

Pearl is a sweet young pig winding her way home one day. Enjoying the people around her, the clean crisp air, and the softness of the flowered glens, Pearl is a bit like Little Red Riding Hood. She is in no particular hurry to get home. When Pearl stumbles across a magical talking bone, she is delighted. The bone too is quite happy and the two make a delicious pair. When robbers (frightfully dressed in scary masks and carrying guns & knives) attempt to rob little Pearl, the bone successfully drives the bandits off with scary sounds. Some parents find this an inappropriate portion of the tale and will make a very big deal about it. Honestly? It's just a little too weird to seriously freak out a child. I daresay parents are the ones frightened by this part of the book. Not kiddies. Continuing in the story a dapper fox is less gullible than the silly robbers. When he decides to make Pearl his meal, the bone's cries are in vain. It is only through a series of fortunate turns of fate that Pearl and her bone may return safe and sound to her home and her parents.

Don't get me wrong. The story is doggone bizarre. One of Steig's weirdest by far. Steig was a fan of the small common object (bone, pebble, etc.) containing great grandiose powers. His stories often focus on the little fellow outwitting the big (sometimes literally). And foxes were his favorite villains. Often elegantly dressed, they have the capacity for pity. They just ignore it. This particular story is especially disturbing because of the nature of Pearl's abduction. The fox forces her into his abandoned shack, leaving her cowering on the floor of a room. Want to drill into your children the horrors of strangers and the dangers of going anywhere with them? I can't think of a better method of getting this point home (though, admittedly, I don't remember getting that message when I myself read this story as a child). Though the book certainly contains creepy possibilities, the story is a good one. You're safe with Steig. And just a word on the beauty of his illustrations. Though Steig obviously preferred to grow messier and squigglier in his creations as he aged, no scene in children's picture books is more perfectly pastoral than the shot of Pearl reclining amongst the flowering trees and fields. All in all, a great story couched in a great book.