The Amazing Bone - by William Steig (Paperback)

About the Book

Can Pearl, a pig, and her new friend, a small talking bone, outwit a band of robbers "and" a hungry fox? Steig's classic tale is a Caldecott Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, and a "New York Times Book Review" Notable Children's Book. Full color.

Book Synopsis

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.

William Steig, incomparable master of the contemporary picture book, has never been better than in The Amazing Bone.

It's a bright and beautiful spring day, and Pearl, a pig, is dawdling on her way home from school. Most unexpectedly, she strikes up an acquaintance with a small bone. "You talk?" says Pearl. "In any language," says the bone. "And I can imitate any sound there is." (Its former owner was a witch.) Pearl and the bone immediately take a liking to each other, and before you know it she is on her way home with the bone in her purse, left open so they can continue their conversation. Won't her parents be surprised when she introduces her talking bone!

But before that happy moment comes, the resourceful bone must deal with a band of highway robbers in Halloween masks and, worse, a fox who decides that Pearl will be his main course at dinner that night. And deal it does, with gambits droll and thrilling.

Made into a short animated film voiced by John Lithgow, available on streaming and home video.

Review Quotes

"Pearl (a piglet) discovers a talking bone, which had fallen out of a witch's basket. . . . This is a tight mesh of witty storytelling and art, bound to please any audience." --Booklist, Starred Review

"Steig's inspired language is a miraculous match for his pictures, lovely as well as funny." --Publishers Weekly

"Another Steig tour de force." --School Library Journal

About the Author

William Steig (1907-2003) was a cartoonist, illustrator and author of award-winning books for children, including Shrek!, on which the DreamWorks movies are based; the Caldecott Medal-winner Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; The Caldecott Honor book The Amazing Bone; and the Newbury Honor Books Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto. Stieg also published thirteen collections of drawings for adults, including The Lonely Ones, Male/Female, and Our Miserable Life.