Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Steig, W. (1969). Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Brief Annotation: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is a wonderful story about a young donkey named Sylvester Duncan who lives with his mom and dad. He has a unique hobby of collecting pebbles. One day he finds a very unique pebble that turns out to be magical! He wishes for a few things, but then runs into a lion. He quickly wishes to become a rock so that the lion will not eat him. While it seems like a good idea initially, poor Sylvester is not able to wish himself to be anything else and since he is not able to touch the pebble stays as a rock for a long time. His parents look for him and miss him terribly. One afternoon, after much sorrow, and almost giving up on finding their son, the Duncan’s go out for a Picnic. They use Sylvester as their table! They badly wish for Sylvester to be with them, and Sylvester wishes for the same. He instantly is turned back into himself and they go home happily ever after, wishing for nothing else because they have all they could ever want, each other.

Genre: Picture book

Grade Level: K- Grade 3

Readers who will like this: Students who are becoming more advanced readers at the lower age’s levels, but are not yet to chapter books. Anyone who is looking for a sweet story with great illustrations will enjoy this book. Teachers who want to do an author study could chose William Steig and use this book as one of his to read from.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4, This book was wonderful! It is such a sweet story that would capture the hearts of any reader. The theme of family and what’s important in life is beautifully depicted through Steig’s words and illustrations. The quote at the end made me tear up when I read it. I am very much enjoying Steig’s work.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “What would you do if you found a magic pebble that could give you anything you wanted?” * At the end a great follow up question could be “After seeing what happened to Sylvester, would you still keep your original wish?”

Reading Strategies Connection: Feelings Chart (Yopp & Yopp, 87). As the teacher reads the story out loud have the students be ready to create a feelings chart. During the reading the students should be thinking about how the story makes them feel, and the teacher could facilitate the chart for the whole class, showing them how they all felt about the book.