Customer Reviews

The Amazing Bone (Reading Rainbow Books)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I almost didn't buy this book after reading some of the reviews here. Of particular concern was the gun scene. It gets a lot of press here. I'm not sure why really. More explicit gun scenes can be found in Animalia. I guess my take is this: If a book is glorifying guns, encouraging children to use them as toys, and you happen to be a non-gun-owning hippie like me, you'd avoid that kind of book. But this book isn't doing that. It's bad guys with guns. Guns that really are an aside from the plot. They aren't even that scary either. Hmph... Big deal. Turns out the scariest part of this book is fearing for poor Pearl's life when she's in the the fox's house. At least it had me on the edge of my seat. All turns out well in the end.

My daughter loved this book too, and was ready for the second read just an hour later. She didn't seem troubled by the twists this tale takes. I think she knows it's just a story. She went to sleep without a hitch tonight. I guess she's just not scared. Except for the fear of the air conditioner vents and the flashing alien lights inside them. Yep. And she didn't even read that in a book. Come to think of it, we don't have any children's books about aliens or air conditioner vents. Hmm...

I don't think I'd define this book as being bizarre. I'm a little disappointed really. I was expecting something far more... well... bizarre. Thinking alien lights are in the air conditioner vents is bizarre. Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen" is bizarre. I mean a talking bone isn't much less believable than a pebble that grants wishes, right? Bad things happen to good pigs? Not bizarre. Ironic statements? Wily foxes? So not bizarre.

If you're a fan of Steig, this story is a nice add to the collection.

If your child is already scared of animals wearing Halloween masks and brandishing pistols and/or sinister foxes who confess they aren't ashamed for being carnivores because if foxes aren't supposed to eat pigs then why are pigs made of meat (even nice pigs), no need to heighten their fear.

This is a fairy tale. It isn't any scarier than a Grimm's tale, and probably less than most. If it provokes conversation with your children, talk, and pat yourself on the back for reading them a book that made 'em think, rather than just handing them a remote control.

Our two children, ages 3 and 6-1/2, absolutely LOVE this story, and we love reading it to them, as it is a very fun book to read aloud. I suppose it contains some edgy elements for a children's book: violence is threatened several times, and Pearl (the darling protagonist/pig) is almost eaten by a fox -- but is this any more violent than, say, The Three Little Pigs? As William Steig says several times in this beautiful, enjoyable tale, "I didn't make the world." That being said, I suppose this story isn't for everyone, and I wouldn't recommend it for children who are especially young or easily scared, but having read a TON of children's book over the last six years, this is one of the few for which I've been moved to write a recommendation. Honestly, just hearing my kids running around exclaiming "Have you no shame, Sir?!" to each other (and everyone else) and then bursting into giggles was worth any talk explaining why foxes want to eat pigs. I'd give it six stars if I could, but then, I didn't make the world.

These words are spoken by a fox, one of the villains of this book, to a talking bone, one of the heroes. The bone is not inanimate - it is a sentient creature with feelings and a sweet disposition.

There is no doubt that Steig is brilliant, but in The Amazing Bone he seems to have lost his bearings. How can a book purportedly written for children include a character that takes pleasure from inflicting pain, and describes it in this graphic way?

The fox also menaces Pearl, a darling piglet who is the other protagonist of the book. Her trouble starts, as it might for any child, as follows: "It was a brilliant day, and instead of going straight home from school, Pearl dawdled".

As she slowly makes her way home through idyllic scenery, Pearl happens upon the talking bone. "'May I take you home with me, wonderful bone?' Pearl asked".

But the happy scene is soon interrupted by three masked robbers who put a gun to the head of the innocent child. With the help of the bone Pearl escapes, only to fall into the clutches of the even more sinister fox. The shocking threat of torture follows as the valiant bone tries to rescue its new friend for a second time.

"When they arrived at the fox's hideaway, he shoved Pearl into and empty room and locked the door". While there are many such scenes in the Little Red Riding Hood genre of fairy tale, there is something particularly violent and dark in Stieg's portrayal. The image of Pearl cowering on the floor of the locked room awaiting her fate is disturbing to the extreme.

Notwithstanding a happy ending it's clear that this book can't be recommended for children, and that it isn't intended for adults. This being the case it is surprising that in 1977 it was recognized by the American Library Association as a Caldecott Honor Book. Certainly Steig's artful and evocative illustrations are remarkable, but should not have been sufficient, in and of themselves, for the conferring of this prestigious award.

Is there a more charming book than this? A very dear friend was in the hospital and, in addition to feeling ill, was in a very crabby mood, yelling at doctors and technicians whenever they approached. I brought this book to read to him because I thought it might cheer him up. After I finished, he thanked me and also called me later at home to thank me anew for bringing such a charming book into his life because it honestly did make him feel better. Pearl and her loyal new best friend, the bone, are wonderful and any adult or child will find it to be a refreshingly lovely treat.

Steig is my favorite children's book author and The Amazing Bone my favorite of his books. I love the characters and the sense of evil conquered by the lovely piggirl. His depiction of spring is wonderful, like a breath of fresh air. Steig transports the reader with his sweet magic, but always maintains a balance with his evil characters lurking just around the corner. Read all of his stuff, you'll truly be a better person for it.

I love this book and my 3 year old adores it. It's my new favorite.

I have to say that these reviews about howw "scary" the book is are ridicylous. Have you never read a fairy tale? I didn't find this charming tale any more jarring than Hansel anf Gretel or the 3 Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood or Bambi.

My four year old son loved this book. We checked it out from the library, and now we have to buy our own copy. Pearl, the heroine is lovable and the amazing (talking) bone is smart and quick- witted. My son loved this book because of the power the bone gave pearl. The power to overcome the evil villians and go home fearless.