Children's Book of the Week: 10

This week's book is another beloved classic from my childhood. Maybe you had it when you were little, too. It's still in print, because it's absolutely precious, and it's called

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
by William Steig

This book will make you cry, just warning you. It may look harmless, with the donkeys and pigs on the cover, but it is among the most tender stories I've ever read in a children's book. It tells the story of the curious little donkey, Sylvester Duncan, who is the apple of his parents' eye. One day, he finds a strange pebble for his collection and soon discovers that by holding the rock and making a wish, his every wish is granted. On his way home to share his treasure with his parents, he meets up with a "mean, hungry lion," and instead of wishing the lion "would turn into a butterfly or a daisy or a gnat," Sylvester panics and wishes that he could be a rock. So he becomes a rock, and is then unable to pick up the pebble to wish himself back. He realizes that his only chance of becoming himself again is for someone else to pick up the pebble and wish that the rock were a donkey. Ya, fat chance, and so, "being helpless, he felt hopeless." After a month of searching for their dear son, his parents thought that they would never see him again. "They were miserable. Life had no meaning for them anymore." Seasons pass, and in the spring, they decide to picnic to cheer themselves up. They end up sitting on the rock that is Sylvester, and he wants to shout, but he has no voice. They find the pebble, and wish that he was with them, and in an instant, Sylvester is back.
They return home, embrace on the sofa, and although "some day they might want to use [the pebble], . . . really, for now, what more could they wish for? They all had all that they wanted."

Oh, it's so good. I'm serious, pardon the long story-telling post, but you must at least get this one from the library. It's kind of a longer book, better for at least ages 4 and up.

You can buy it here.