True Love, Danger, Abduction and Magic!

William Steig’s The Amazing Bone is a fantastical tale of Pearl, a young female pig, and a magical talking bone. Our story begins when the lovely, innocent Pearl dawdles about town rather than going straight home after school lets out. Pearl is extremely observant of the goings on of the world. She often remarks intelligently and in great detail regarding her observations of the world. And I quote:

Later she sat on the ground in the forest between school and home, and spring was so bright and beautiful, the warm air touched her so tenderly, she could almost feel herself changing into a flower. Her light dress felt like petals. “I love everything,” she heard herself say.

After she says this, she hears a voice say, “So do I.” Lo and behold, the voice belongs to none other than a bone lying in a patch of flowers near her. Pearl and the bone chat together for a while and the bone demonstrates its magnificent penchant for making all kinds of sounds. The bone lets us in on its background, saying that it used to belong to a witch.

The bone likes Pearl and Pearl likes the bone. So, she picks it up and puts it in her purse and they stroll through the forest together, talking and enjoying the scenery and each other.

Suddenly, three robbers wearing scary masks and wielding knives and revolvers jump out from behind a boulder and try to steal Pearl’s purse. The bone frightens them away by making noises like a snake and a lion. Pearl and the bone laugh off the attack and continue on their way.

Their contentment is short-lived, however. A sophisticated looking fox steps out from behind a tree. He wears a stylish suit, carries a cane and grins a sharp white smile. He instantly falls for Pearl, not as a love interest but as an entrée! The bone bravely tries to rescue her by making sounds like a crocodile, but the clever fox is not as easily fooled as the robbers. He discovers the bone and says, “As I live and flourish! A talking bone. I’ve always wanted to own something of this sort.” Don’t we all, Mr. Fox?

As the fox coerces Pearl back to his dilapidated hideaway, Pearl and the bone plead to be released. The fox can’t help himself, he explains. Then the bone reviles him, “You coward! You worm! You odiferous wretch!” The fox silences them with carnivorous threats. Since I first read this story, I have had a deep yearning to call someone an odiferous wretch, but alas the situation has not come up... yet.

The tension mounts as the fox heats up the wood stove and sets water to boil while Pearl and the bone await their doom. They comfort each other with encouraging words of love.
Well, I don’t want to spoil the whole story for you so I decline to tell you what will happen next. I will only say that the ending, as in all good children’s stories, is a happy one.

The Amazing Bone is, so far, my favorite book by William Steig. I have also reviewed two other Steig stories:

Pete’s a Pizza: http://www.epinions.com/content_10757574276

and

C D B!: http://www.epinions.com/content_9774272132

Our family loves reading Steig’s books so more reviews are likely to come this way.

The Amazing Bone is 26 pages long in it’s paperback edition. I have owned our copy for about 20 years and it is in good condition. It’s not the sort of book that children tend to carry around with them. The list price on our copy is $2.95, but that was in 1978 so the price has most likely inflated a bit since then.

The Amazing Bone is full of wonderful vocabulary that children may not at first understand. However, they garner the meanings of the words contextually or they will ask you what a word means. It is such a joy to hear my four year old son using words like “beautiful”, “exceptional”, “ravenous”, “brilliant” and many more words he has picked up from reading this and other books with extensive vocabularies.

This story has both excitement and danger, but not so much danger that it would give children nightmares. I think reading true stories about animals and dinosaurs scare children just as much, if not more, than stories containing fictional danger such as Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Amazing Bone.

I think children ages 4 and up are a good audience for The Amazing Bone. Of course, different children mature at different levels. So, what may be appropriate for my four year old son may still be too scary for your five year old.

I highly recommend reading William Steig’s The Amazing Bone with your son, daughter, niece, nephew, cousin, grandchild, student, babysittee, or otherwise munchkin in your life as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading!