| Title | : | The Amazing Bone |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0374403589 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780374403584 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 32 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1976 |
| Awards | : | Caldecott Medal (1977), Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Picture Book (1977) |
The Amazing Bone is a 1976 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year, a 1977 Caldecott Honor Book, and a 1977 Boston Globe - Horn Book Awards Honor Book for Picture Books.
The Amazing Bone Reviews
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This is about Pearl the Pig. She is having the best spring afternoon ever. She is enjoying life after school walking all over until she comes to rest in the forest listening to the sounds and looking at the soft spring colors. She finds a bone that talks, it really talks and it’s smart. She and the bone decide to partner and off she goes home. Here the story gets dangerous. 1st, she is attacked by robbers and the bone scares them off. Then, she is captured by a fox and taken home to be eaten. The bone does not scare the fox one bit. He thinks it is marvelous. Pearl is terrified of being eaten. Finally, when Pearl is about to be slaughtered, the bone saves the day.
William Steig has a wicked imagination and he puts the reader in a dangerous situation. He is a bold author. I enjoy his pictures of spring and how soft the world is. I enjoy Pearl and how much she appreciates nature around her. I enjoyed this story.
This story caused a little bit of fear in the niece. She said she liked the story anyway. She gave this 4 stars. The nephew thought it was great fun. He knew that the fox would gobble up Pearl. I have seen my nephew be genuinely concerned when something gets hurt and he doesn’t like to watch things suffer or die on nature programs. He does feel things, but he can have a wicked sense of humor with books and life. He was glad that Pearl was saved and he thought that bone was pretty awesome. He said, there’s no such thing as a talking bone, is there? I said, likely not, but it’s a big strange world. He gave the story 5 stars. -
Pearl, a young pig, is wandering around after school, daydreaming and enjoying nature, when she happens to meet... a bone. A friendly, talkative bone who has escaped from a grumpy witch and is looking for a better home. Pearl and the bone quickly make friends, but will friendship be enough to get them safely through the dangerous woods?
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“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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Review is also on:
Rabbit Ears Book Blog -
Hmm. I honestly don't know what to think of this story. Perhaps more so, I'm not sure what to *make* of the story! It's incredibly bizarre. Incredibly. If you've read it, what do you think the message is? Or is there just not one?
Ages: 5 - 9
Cleanliness: mentions tobacco juice. The bone previously belonged to a witch and at the end of the story, casts a spell (fairy tale like magic). There are robbers with Halloween masks and they point guns at the main character. Later, the main character gets kidnapped by a wolf who wishes to eat her (similarly to Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddle Duck story). "Shut up" and "oh my goodness" are said.
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Kids books, like any kind of literature, can vary widely, but, let's face it, most of them are shit. Then, every once in a while you find one that is supremely challenging to everything that you thought possible in kids' literature and literature and general. Something that tears down assumptions of what is trope and what is not, something that breaks downs the very thin border between surrealism and children's literature, something that in its sheer lunacy transcends the hazy line separating human from deity. The Amazing Bone is one of these books.
Pearl the pig dawdles her way home. In the forest she lazes about savoring nature and declaring "I love everything!". Then she hears a voice expressing the same sentiment. It is the bone, a talking bone that had escaped from the clutches of an evil witch. The bone, it tells her, is able to replicate every human language and every known sound. Pearl loves the bone dearly, and it loves her. On the way home, they are set upon by highwaymen who literally press their guns to Pearl's forehead and demand her cash until the bone imitates the sound of ferocious beasts and scares them off. A fucking sadistic fox finds her next and, embracing her, abducts her to his home to eat her. The bone has no effect on him. Pearl, she tells the bone, has just begun to live and does not want to die. The bone says they will perish together, the best of friends. As the fox plus cutlery descends upon her, the bone begins speaking in tongues transforming the fox into a mouse-sized fox and they escape. He learned this subconsciously from the witch, says the bone. And all is well.
This is such a damn wacky book that it is hard to compare with anything or characterize as anything other than the sort of thing the discerning reader would expect to find in the words of Soupault or Lautreaumont, perhaps? -
William Steig was an amazing writer who used an outsized vocabulary to create children's books that adults would enjoy reading aloud. The best audience is the gifted child, someone that is still young enough to like a good picture book but that isn't bewildered by text. My favorite Steig book is Dr. DeSoto, which was the "it" book for my elder daughter when she was small, but everything he put his hand to was solid.
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3*art
3*story
Steig is so unique. So unlike anyone else. He may not be riveting in this particular story, but he's always flavourful. How many stories are there about a talking bone, anyway? Squirt liked it. The idea of a talking bone didn't faze him one iota. -
I am actually here to praise the audio book of "The Amazing Bone" specifically. The book itself is great, but the audio book is really perfect. I would say four and a half stars for the book, but five for the audio book. John Lithgow does the narration and he nails the various voices, especially the bone. Just the best. This is also such a great example of the weirdness of William Steig. "Doctor De Soto" for example, is a really great book but not as delightfully weird as "The Amazing Bone." We listened to this two or three times on the most recent long drive. We had a bunch of books but this was the best.
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I picked this up for my five-year-old. It looked a bit long and wordy for him, so I decided to look through it first before reading it to him. Came across the section where the main character is robbed at gunpoint (well, attempted) ... decided against reading it to the five-year-old. I'm sure we'll get there eventually ... I would just rather hold off.
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This is the kind of book that William Steig consistently creates better than almost anybody else. It's a picture book, yes, but it's built on a subtly intellectual foundation, and it's a completely told story, smoothly unfolding from beginning to end.
I can certainly see how The Amazing Bone would have received official attention from the Caldecott committee in 1977. The artwork in the book is some of William Steig's finest, coating the pages with rich color and a kind of life that seems to practically move with the story. The narrative is well-imagined and humorous, with a few striking points that will remain in the reader's mind well after reading the book.
The format of The Amazing Bone reminds me of a combination of two other William Steig books, Zeke Pippin and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Pearl goes out into the forest one day and happens upon a small, magical bone that can somehow actually speak. The bone belonged to a witch, it informs Pearl, and aside from its ability to speak (in multiple languages, no less), it is also capable of mimicking virtually any sound it hears.
When Pearl and her magic speaking bone are captured by a malicious fox, it takes more than cunning to free them both from a terrible fate in the creature's vulpine belly; it takes a different talent that the bone has, one that it didn't even know it possessed, to level out the playing field and give Pearl and her unusual companion a chance to win.
This is a very good book, in my opinion. William Steig's writing hits the mark as always, delivering lines that are both thoughtful and surprisingly comical. One of my personal favorites is when the fox first spots the talking bone, and says, "A talking bone. I've always wanted to own something of this sort." I would give two and a half stars to The Amazing Bone. -
Move over Maurice Sendak, Steig could have shown you one or two things about how to frighten a child with the words and illustrations of his book!
Cute little Pink Pig Pearl wanders in the forest on an absolutely perfect day. Finding a talking bone, she is not frightened, but rather is amused and puts the bone in her purse to carry home.
Traveling home she comes upon three nasty mask wearing critters with guns and knives. One image shows the evil masked critter places the gun right next to Pearl's head. When the bone growled and then hissed like a snake, the near do wells hurry to flee.
A short time later, Pearl meets a dandy Fox, wearing a suit and leering with his sharp teeth.
Unafraid of the bone and Pearl, he escorts them to his raggle taggle house where he intends to eat Polly. Again, there are more images of sharp knives and imminent danger.
The bone uses magic words to shrink the fox and he fled into a mouse hole.
Pearls parents, who were worried about her, are happy to see her home. Pearl and the bone are welcomed and live happy ever after.
Interesting to note, and not surprising to learn, this book is on a banned list because of the terror, violence and images of guns and knives. -
I read this book for a "Gardening and Literature" class I took for my MA degree at the University of Maine. The class itself was really unique in that we discussed our readings while planting a labyrinth garden on University grounds. This particular book was part of our children's lit. reads, and was fun to explore as an adult reader. Ultimately, this story is a very typical fairy tale. It reads like a combination of the Grimm's Fairy Tale "The Singing Bone" and "Little Red Riding Hood" - the pig, Pearl, finds a singing bone and, on her way home, comes across a big bad wolf who intends to devour them but is outwitted by the bone.
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I have to say I like this quirky little story better than Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. It’s clever and creative, and even though it doesn’t seem to make much sense at first, I grew to love the talking bone as much as Pearl does. The robbers with their masks, guns, and daggers are plenty scary and seem more violent than a lot of imagery in picture books nowadays, but I think kids would be less troubled by it than their parents. It seemed like a bit of a cop-out that the bone just magically knew the words to get Pearl out of trouble with the fox at the last minute, but if a bone can talk, I suppose it can do anything else it wants, too!
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I listened to the audiobook as bedtime read during banned book week. Jonathan Lithgow did a great narrating job. It was a favorite childhood story, so it was fun to listen as an adult. It holds up well.
Pearl the pig is deeply enjoying a beautiful day on her way home from school when she discovers a magic talking bone. They become immediate friends and Pearl puts the bone in her purse. It helps her foil a gang of robbers and outwit a hungry fox (tho that’s a very near thing) before becoming part of her family. It’s one of those book narrations with sound effects, but they work well.
The illustrations in the actual book are a lot of fun.
4-5 stars. -
This is a very strange story. We listened to it being narrated on audiocassette by
John Lithgow as we followed along with the book, and with his amazing storytelling skills, we were transfixed by the story. After we listened to it, I read it again and realized that it really is a very strange tale. Overall, though, the illustrations are great, the story is entertaining and we really enjoyed the audio version of this book. -
This is a story that makes anything seem possible, and any problem solvable. The main character is the epitome of carefree happiness and wonder towards the world, and strangely, the other character is a talking bone that ends up saving the day. The forest setting that brings about an uncaring wolf to eat them is classic, but anything else about the story is not, which gives it a great twist and makes one giggle.
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I'm a sucker for a well-dressed fox and a somewhat daft pig with rad facial expressions. The ending was great, and my kids liked comparing it to other examples of traditional literature.
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I hated this book. I know it is older, but it had really unusual situations that I thought were creepy and not suitable for children.
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This one we really liked. We'll definitely look for more stories by William Steig.
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A very unlikely friendship and a new adventure.
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surprisingly violent...but "the seventies were a different time" according to Kricket :)
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This book won the Caldecott Honor. To be honest, this book is kind of weird and I would not recommend it to younger readers. The plot takes a weird turn and has some scenes that might not be suitable for younger readers. Once scene features a gang of robbers that have knifes and guns and another scene has a fox that abducts and wants to kill the main character. There is also a lot of text, which might be harder for younger readers to wade through. I would recommend this book to older children that can comprehend a lot of text and older themes. The artwork in this story is absolutely lovely though. I think that the artwork is a mixture of watercolor and pencil. The colors in the story are vibrant and flowing, but outlined with strong lines. This gives the story a very distinct look to it. The illustrations are set up so the art is on the top of the page and the text is beneath it. This allows your eyes to go to the art first, take it in, them read the text. There are few double page spreads, but they showcase Steig's talent and his eye for detail. One of the double page spreads shows the main character in a beautiful meadow that has flowers and trees. This really shows the art style and pulls the reader into the scene. This book has a weird plot, but older children will most likely enjoy it. I'm not sure what the message of this story is, so I do not know how I would use this story with children other than to show and talk about the art.
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Added November 6, 2019. (first published September 1st 1976)
This is a short children's story (13 minutes) narrated by John Lithgow.
It's wonderful! don't miss it!
I FOUND IT VIA SALON OVERDRIVE AND LISTENED IN MY BROWSER. JOHN LITHGOW TELLS THE STORY SO WELL!
https://salon.overdrive.com/media/128312
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Amazin...
SEE WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ama...
"The story is about how Pearl the pig is walking home from school, and finds a magic bone on the ground, which has the ability to imitate any sound and speak in any language (It samples Spanish, Polish and German for her). Pearl takes it with her, and on the way home they have several misadventures, including an encounter with a hungry fox who wants to eat Pearl for dinner."
SEE ANIMATED VERSION HERE:
https://archive.org/details/theamazin... -
Pearl the pig is wandering around on a beautiful day when she comes across a talking bone. The two become quick friends and Pearl takes the bone home. On the way, though they are accosted by bandits and then a wily fox. Will Pearl and her new friend ever make it home?
This reads like a mashup of Little Red Riding Hood (with Riding Hood carrying her rescuer) and a trickster tale. Now that this is over 40 years old, some of the vocabulary used is a bit long and fancy for the average picture book reader today, so be prepared to show them how to use a dictionary. There's a lot of words per page too, so it is longer than the average picture book today. I may shelve this with our lower grade chapter books because of the length and high vocabulary. It's an odd little fairy tale, but then, there are much weirder ones out there. I'm sure there are kids out there who would absolutely adore this story, especially since it makes adults reading to them say a bunch of nonsense magical words towards the end. -
The Amazing Bone by William Steig- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The narrates the story of a child Pig named Pearl. While returning from school, It is spring and she is walking happily in the forest. Pearl rests there. She finds a bone that talks. The two become friends. She carries the bone back towards her house. Robbers challenge her. Noise created by the bone scares them off. Next, Pearl is captured by a fox and taken home to be eaten. Noise created by the bone does not scare the fox. Pearl is afraid of being eaten. Finally, when Pearl is about to be slaughtered, the bone saves Pearl by uttering magic words which decrease the size of the Fox. I enjoy his pictures of spring and how soft the world is. I have read this book in Hindi language. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story. In order to write stories for children, authors have to think like children. Author understands child psychology well. Therefore, the book has won many awards.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It is done in such a masterful way that even though it is a bit long, it sails by. Pearl is a young pig still in school. On a bight sunny day, she takes a picnic and finds a bone that once fell out of a witch’s basket. This amazing bone could talk. It was very helpful in scaring away the robbers that attacked with knives and guns. But the Fox was smart. He saw the bone and how amazing it was. He wanted it for himself and Pearl for dinner. Literally! A pignapping happens, but the bone still saves the day. This book is heavily banned. The reasons range from witchcraft and the occult to violence and kidnapping. I get why parents complain, this book is a bit more macabre wrapped in pretty paper than stories are now. But the story is lovely. It’s a folk tale that could be told again and again and again and kids would be on the edge of their seat every single time.
