The Toy Brother [Library Binding]

William Steig (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up

Believing his kid brother, Charles, to be nothing more than a pest, Yorick Bede finds himself dependent on Charles when he invents a potion that reduces him to the size of a peanut. Children's BOMC.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

William Steig, the creator of 26 children's books, including Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and The Amazing Bone, has struck again with an entertaining and informative book. Both the writer and illustrator, Steig spins a yarn that focuses on two brothers. The older boy, Yorick, is told one day by his alchemist father not to venture into the laboratory. Yorick, of course, does just that as soon as his father leaves and mixes a potion that transforms him into a toy-sized boy. His brother, Charles, is thereby transformed into the larger of the two, forcing the siblings to deal with role reversal, brotherhood, disobedience, and a host of other matters. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A big brother and little brother reverse roles-literally-in this Middle Ages take on "When the cat's away, the mice will play." Know-it-all Yorick wants to be an alchemist like his father, so when his parents leave on a week-long journey, he plays in the lab. Alas, poor Yorick concocts a shrinking formula, and soon he's the size of Lynne Reid Banks's Indian in the Cupboard. While he waits for his father to return and whip up an antidote, Yorick depends on his younger brother, Charles, whom he has always disdained; the two antagonists bond after sweet-natured Charles builds Yorick a dollhouse, saves him from a hailstorm and entertains him by "dress[ing] the goat up in one of his mother's best outfits." The prolific Steig keeps the Dark Ages light with his penchant for non sequiturs and colorful if challenging words (such as "alackaday" and "transmogrification"). Watercolors of chunky wooden furniture, heavy eating utensils and knee-length tunics set the tone for this costume comedy. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding
• Publisher: Di Capua; 1st edition (February 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062050796
• ISBN-13: 978-0062050793
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,541,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and Magic, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Toy Brother (Hardcover)

William Steig works his magic again in this tale of twoalchemist's sons. The older brother, Yorick, has no use for theyounger son, Charles. But when Mom and Dad are gone for a week, Yorick learns how it feels to be the smaller brother, via a forbidden trip to his father's lab.

Now Charles is the bigger kid, but in a loveable and believable way, chooses to help his toy brother, for always, if need be. Dad finally manages to undo the magic, but we know the caring between the brothers will go on forever.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Sibling Story, April 23, 2000

By 

naterby "naterby" (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Toy Brother (Trophy Picture Books) (Paperback)

How many of us had older siblings that ignored us and thought we were pests? And how many of us had younger siblings that were pests? This is a great story of two brothers in this situation. But in the end find mutual respect for each other. William Steig's fairy tale magic leaves children wanting this story read over and over again.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchantingly real, December 21, 2001

By 

Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Toy Brother (Trophy Picture Books) (Paperback)

William Steig joined here the delightful tone of his earlier children's books to the inventiveness found in his New Yorker cartoons.

Yorick, the older of these two medieval boys, had notions of surpassing his father at alchemy, and hoped someday to turn donkey's dung into gold. Charles on the other hand preferred chasing chickens, poking in anthills and arguing with the family goat.

Naturally, when their parents traveled to a distant wedding, Yorick got into some solution. "Yes goosewit," he told his brother, after transmogrificating himself, "I invented a new potion. But I tasted it and za-zing! I was no bigger than a cockroach."

Charles found his older brother's new size satisfyingly real as peas and beans and built him a new pint-sized house, but when it started to hail, he realized that Yorick would always be in danger. He could easily drown in a bucket of milk, be eaten by a cat, seriously injured by a field mouse or stepped on by a donkey.

Steig mixed unusual words with more unusual ingredients--putting gadzooks and flabbergasted with borage, betony, camphor, sauerkraut and dainty pies. The hysterical result no doubt humored the Bede minikins. It is bound to enchant your own tikes as well, especially if they're prone to fight now and then. Alyssa A. Lappen