Three Cheers for the brave bone!

“The Amazing Bone” is another classic from William Steig and is also the most dramatic book due to the main character being put into peril in a number of cases. William Steig’s hand-drawn illustrations and his intense yet soothing storytelling makes this book an instant treat to enjoy.

SUMMARY

Pearl the Pig is on her way home from school and instead of going straight home, Pearl decides to dawdle around town and observing the activities that grownups are doing. Later on, Pearl goes through a beautiful forest and decides to rest awhile while imagining herself into a flower. Suddenly, she hears a strange voice from among the violets and wonders aloud who it was. The voice belonged to a small bone in the violets and Pearl at first was shocked about the talking bone, until the bone starts speaking in Spanish and other languages and starts impersonating various sounds such as a person sneezing and the sound of rain falling on the ground. Pearl decides to take the bone home with her to show her parents, even though she predicts that her parents will not believe her about the bone at first and then the bone surprises them by talking.

As the two friends were strolling towards home, who should come out behind a boulder but three highway robbers. The three robbers wore masks and they threaten Pearl’s life with their guns and knives if Pearl did not give up her purse. Of course, Pearl refused to give the robbers her purse because the bone was inside and when the robbers asked her what was inside the purse, the bone starts making frightening noises of a lion roaring and a snake hissing. The robbers were so afraid that they ran off through the forest, causing Pearl and the bone to laugh at their cowardice.

Pearl and the bone continued walking through the forest until they encounter a fox, who then decides that Pearl would make an excellent main course for his dinner. The bone, sensing the danger that Pearl was in, started making sounds of a hungry crocodile in order to steer the fox away from Pearl. However, the fox was smarter than the robbers and found out that the bone was making those sounds and he took the bone away from Pearl. The Fox then takes Pearl and the bone to his hideaway and puts Pearl in an isolated room. Pearl wept pitifully for her life and the bone tries to comfort her by telling her to be brave and that she meant the world to him. Then, the Fox comes inside the room and begins taking Pearl towards the stove until the bone starts yelling out some magic words and the fox starts to shrink into the size of a mouse! The terrified mouse-like fox scampered into the mouse hole and was never heard from again.

Even though neither Pearl nor the bone had a clue what had just happened, they were both still happy to be alive and they start their way back home. When Pearl comes home, her parents were worried sick about her and wondered where she had been all this time. Pearl tells her parents that the bone can talk and at first, her parents did not believe her, just as she predicted, then the bone starts talking to the parents and the parents were shocked about the talking bone, but got used to it. The bone then becomes apart of the family and has made a great friend out of Pearl.

PROS

“The Amazing Bone” sets the perfect storyline about the power of friendship and the dangers of the outside world to a child. William Steig dramatically tells how some strangers are dangerous to children by depicting a young pig that meets many dangerous strangers in the woods and nearly has died on both accounts. William Steig’s storytelling also brilliantly depicts of how important it is to walk home with somebody who will protect you, such as the bone coming along with Pearl and protecting her from all the dangerous strangers she has met. Another main aspect of this book is William Steig’s beautiful illustrations, as he illustrates the forest and the flowers with many vibrant colors that make the forest look beautiful and realistic.

CONS

Parents should know that there are many intense scenes in this book, such as Pearl being harassed by three robbers who threaten to kill her if she did not hand over her purse and the fox kidnapping Pearl and taking her to his hideaway so that he could cook Pearl into a main course dinner. Since many children today are being harassed and kidnapped by unsuspecting strangers, this book may be too much for children to handle and parents should try to explain to their children that it is always good to travel with someone if one does not know the place very well, so that the person will try their best to protect the child from any danger.

OVERALL

“The Amazing Bone” is a wonderful experience for children to see how it is dangerous to walk in an unsuspecting place alone and how friendship is strong enough to conquer the most dangerous criminals. This book is probably one of William Steig’s most notable books due to it winning a Caldecott Honor Medal and this book does deserve that medal. Even though this book is a treat for many children, parents may want to talk to their children about strangers before reading them this book.