Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is a children's picture book written and illustrated by William Steig, and published in 1969. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1970.
Plot
Sylvester Duncan, a young donkey from the fictional community of Oatsdale, collects pebbles "of unusual shape and color." One day he finds a spherical red pebble that grants wishes. Immediately afterward, a lion scares Sylvester, and as a defense he wishes himself into a rock--the only thing he could think of at the moment. Unfortunately, the magic pebble falls off the rock, and Sylvester is unable to revert to his donkey form as the pebble must be in contact with the wish-maker to work. The rest of the story deals with the resulting aftermath: Sylvester's personal attempt to change back into his true self and Mr. and Mrs. Duncan's search for their only child.
Awards
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble earned Steig the 1970 Caldecott Medal, his first of many Caldecott and Newbery Medal honors.[1] The book was nominated for the 1970 National Book Award for Young People's Literature (losing out to Isaac Bashevis Singer's A Day of Pleasure).[2] In 1978, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was given the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
In popular culture
The book was also featured on an episode of Between the Lions.[3]
In 1993, Weston Woods Studios adapted this book to an animated movie, narrated by John Lithgow and directed by Gene Deitch, with music by Steig's son, jazz flautist Jeremy Steig.
The story is used as an example by Noam Chomsky in the documentary film Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? by Michel Gondry.
Controversy
The book sparked some controversy, for its portrayal of the police as pigs, and, as a result was not stocked by public schools and libraries in parts of the United States.[4]
References
- ^ American Library Association: Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present. URL accessed 27 May 2009.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1970". NBF. Retrieved 2012-02-07. (Select 1970 to 1979 from the top left menu.)
- ^ Between the Lions season 2, episode 41, "Pebble Trouble" (April 16, 2001).
- ^ "Banned Books". Archived from the original on October 6, 2012.
External links
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble at IMDb
Awards | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship | Caldecott Medal recipient 1970 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Animals of the Bible (1938)
- Mei Li (1939)
- Abraham Lincoln (1940)
- They Were Strong and Good (1941)
- Make Way for Ducklings (1942)
- The Little House (1943)
- Many Moons (1944)
- Prayer for a Child (1945)
- The Rooster Crows (1946)
- The Little Island (1947)
- White Snow, Bright Snow (1948)
- The Big Snow (1949)
- Song of the Swallows (1950)
- The Egg Tree (1951)
- Finders Keepers (1952)
- The Biggest Bear (1953)
- Madeline's Rescue (1954)
- Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper (1955)
- Frog Went A-Courtin' (1956)
- A Tree Is Nice (1957)
- Time of Wonder (1958)
- Chanticleer and the Fox (1959)
- Nine Days to Christmas (1960)
- Baboushka and the Three Kings (1961)
- Once a Mouse (1962)
- The Snowy Day (1963)
- Where the Wild Things Are (1964)
- May I Bring a Friend? (1965)
- Always Room for One More (1966)
- Sam, Bangs & Moonshine (1967)
- Drummer Hoff (1968)
- The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1969)
- Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1970)
- A Story, a Story (1971)
- One Fine Day (1972)
- The Funny Little Woman (1973)
- Duffy and the Devil (1974)
- Arrow to the Sun (1975)
- Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (1976)
- Ashanti to Zulu (1977)
- Noah's Ark (1978)
- The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses (1979)
- Ox-Cart Man (1980)
- Fables (1981)
- Jumanji (1982)
- Shadow (1983)
- The Glorious Flight (1984)
- Saint George and the Dragon (1985)
- The Polar Express (1986)
- Hey, Al (1987)
- Owl Moon (1988)
- Song and Dance Man (1989)
- Lon Po Po (1990)
- Black and White (1991)
- Tuesday (1992)
- Mirette on the High Wire (1993)
- Grandfather's Journey (1994)
- Smoky Night (1995)
- Officer Buckle and Gloria (1996)
- Golem (1997)
- Rapunzel (1998)
- Snowflake Bentley (1999)
- Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (2000)
- So You Want to Be President? (2001)
- The Three Pigs (2002)
- My Friend Rabbit (2003)
- The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (2004)
- Kitten's First Full Moon (2005)
- The Hello, Goodbye Window (2006)
- Flotsam (2007)
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2008)
- The House in the Night (2009)
- The Lion & the Mouse (2010)
- A Sick Day for Amos McGee (2011)
- A Ball for Daisy (2012)
- This is Not My Hat (2013)
- Locomotive (2014)
- The Adventures of Beekle (2015)
- Finding Winnie (2016)
- Radiant Child (2017)
- Wolf in the Snow (2018)
- Hello Lighthouse (2019)
- The Undefeated (2020)
- We Are Water Protectors (2021)
- Watercress (2022)
- Hot Dog (2023)
- Big (2024)