Tag Archives: William Steig

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble – William Steig

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is a well loved children’s book written and illustrated by William Steig. The illustrations of this loving family of donkeys are very dear. Not only did this book win the Caldecott Medal in 1970, it was also selected as one of the 100 Best Books of the Century by the National Education Association. Sylvester is a young donkey who lives with his mother and father. One of his hobbies is collecting pebbles of unusual shape and color. One rainy day he finds a shiny, red, round pebble. As he examines it, he feels the cold … Continue reading →

Which Would You Rather Be? – William Steig

Some books lend themselves well to playing games. Which Would You Rather Be? by William Steig is such a book. This isn’t just a book to read aloud. This is a book to discuss and have fun answering the questions. Your children’s answers and reasoning may surprise you. As the book opens the illustrations by Harry Bliss show a boy and a girl sitting across from a rabbit. The rabbit has a wand and magicians black hat. The rabbit asks the children which they would rather be, a stick or a stone. The rabbit seems to bring both of them … Continue reading →

Shrek! – William Steig

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Many parents and children are familiar with the Dreamworks movie Shrek. Less people realize that the movie was based on a picture book titled Shrek! authored by William Steig and published in 1993. The book begins with this hilarious sentence, “His mother was ugly and his father was ugly, but Shrek was uglier”. The book is different than the movie, and the illustration don’t really match the movie characters that we are familiar with. This is such a fun book, but it takes a little while to get used to the differences. Shrek is an ogre. Everywhere he goes trees … Continue reading →

C D B! and C D C? – William Steig

C D B! and C D C? are incredibly clever and unique picture books. Each page has some letters and a pen and ink drawings from renowned cartoonist and children’s author William Steig. (He also wrote a picture book about an ogre named Shrek!) Below the drawings are letters, and an occasional number or symbol. At first glance, they don’t seem to make any sense. But if you read the letters aloud you can puzzle out words and sentences. The titles of these books are really read as “See the Bee!” and “See the Sea?”. For example, in C D … Continue reading →