Author Spotlight: William Steig

Ok ya’ll, I’m about to blow your mind here. I know I said I don’t like picture books with too many words - it’s harder to read out loud, doesn’t keep the attention span of the little ones, and often, it doesn’t keep my attention span either.  But there are a FEW authors I make an exception for. Beatrix Potter for instance. Most of her books are short, not a lot of words, and an absolute joy to read. But some of the books in her set are longer, even to the point where I paraphrased when reading it to my kids, but to me, still worth the read. “Samuel Whiskers” makes me laugh out loud every time. “The Tale of Two Bad Mice” - I mean, who doesn’t love cute Hunca Munca? Again, I don’t make many exceptions, but with some authors, I don’t mind reading extra words about characters I love! 

Best example of this “more-words-but-its-ok” phenomenon is William Steig. This is the guy who invented Shrek for those of you who don’t know. Yep. Amazing illustrator/cartoonist and beyond creative. Here are some of my faves. These are all longer picture books, but you won’t have to paraphrase - they’ll want to hear it all. 

• “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble”:  Ok, this one brought an actual tear.  Like, right there in the middle of B&N, I peered through my tear-blurred vision to buy it on Amazon. All you parents out there, you may want a tissue nearby.  It’s a story of a family - donkeys, of course. Alfalfa-sandwich-eating donkeys. Adorable. I won’t tell you the circumstances but the mom and dad lose their son and oh, the tear on the mom’s cheek! Broke my heart. Everyone in the neighborhood helps them look - the dogs sniff, the police (pigs) look, it’s seriously tough to read! But don’t worry, it’s a super happy ending. The looks on their faces at the end make the tears totally worth it. 

• “Doctor DeSoto”:  You ready to laugh? Oh man. The dentist is a mouse and has a sign on his door that says “Cats & other dangerous animals not accepted for treatment”. But a poor dribbling weeping fox needs a tooth removed - stat! So the dentist and his wife come up with a plan that will enable Dr DeSoto to remove the tooth without the fox eating him - just in case the fox succumbs to temptation. Sooo funny and clever too. “Dr DeSoto Goes to Africa” is equally funny. An elephant with a bad molar, and the dentist kidnapped by a vengeful monkey? Yah, good stuff. I love the relationship between Dr DeSoto and Deborah, his wife/dental assistant in both books. 

• “Amos & Boris”:  “Holy clam and cuttlefish!” Best book ever. I read this as a child and still read it to this day. Amos (a mouse) and Boris (a whale) bond. Like, forever-family i-love-you never-forget-you bond. Both face life-threatening situations and help each other when no one else could. Both are characters that stay with you, I will remember this story to my dying day. You will love Amos’s OCD tendencies, and Boris’s generous heart. Both are just the friend the other needs. Reminds me that my friends are not coincidences. 

• “Caleb & Kate”:  William Steig is the best at forming real relationships between two endearing characters (like you want to name one of your kids after one of these characters by the end), then breaking them apart for whatever reason, and then bringing them back together in the happiest way. Caleb & Kate are husband and wife, they are apart, but then miraculously brought back together. There’s a witch, a dog, and burglars involved, I’ll stop there.  Must read. I love it. 

• “Brave Irene”: I love Irene!  Her mother is sick and she has to deliver the dress her mother sewed for the duchess. And of course, it’s snowing and windy! The wind tears the dress out of the box, she twists her ankle, but she keeps moving, so determined. You will find out what happens, but all in all, I just loved Irene and her strength to keep going, no matter how bad things got. There’s a lesson there but it wasn’t shoved in my face. I just got to learn from Irene’s example.

For those of you with older kiddos who like to read on their own, William Steig also wrote “Dominic” and “Abel’s Island”, winner of the Newbery Award. Dominic is a dog who seeks adventure and becomes everyone’s hero.  Abel is a wealthy mouse stranded on an island and finds out he’s got what it takes to survive on his own. Both are short novels with illustrations too, and both will make the reader feel empowered. We often have grit we don’t know we have until we are placed in a situation where we need it. 

See which one is your fave. :)