| Can Pearl, a pig,
and her new friend, a small talking bone, outwit a band of robbers and
a hungry fox?
"Pearl (a piglet)
discovers a talking bone, which has fallen out of a witch's basket .
. . This is a tight mesh of witty storytelling and art, bound
to please any audience." --*Starred/Booklist
"Steig's inspired
language is a miraculous match for his pictures, lovely as well as
funny." --Publishers Weekly
"Youth triumphs, spring
triumphs, magic triumphs, and so does Steig." --The New York
Times Book Review
"Another Steig tour de
force." --*Starred/School Library Journal
Awards
Caldecott Honor Book
ALA Notable Book
School Library Journal Best of the Best Books
Horn Book
Fanfare
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Honor Book for Illustration
New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year
New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
Reviews
Booklist - *starred review
On an intoxicating spring afternoon, Pearl (a piglet) dawdles her
way home from school, eyeing the grown-ups she passes and stopping
off in the forest to soak in the breathy freshness of the season:
"spring was so bright and beautiful, the warm air touched her
so tenderly, she could almost feel herself changing into a flower .
. . 'I love everything,' she heard herself say." It's there
that she discovers a talking bone, which had fallen out of a witch's
basket and decided not to yell: "I didn't want to be her bone
any longer . . . I'd be happier with someone young and lively like
you." So Pearl and the bone continue on their way until a
nastily debonair fox waylays her for his supper. After a fearful
delay the bone comes to her rescue, spewing out a stream of
gobbledygook that magically reduces the villain to mouse size.
Saved, Pearl and the bone head home where they're roundly welcomed.
Steig's marvelously straight-faced telling comes with a panoply of
ultra-spring landscapes for pink-dressed Pearl to tiptoe through.
And there's no holding back the chortles at the wonderfully
expressive faces the artist delights in. This is a tight mesh of
witty storytelling and art, bound to please any audience. |
The
Amazing Bone