The Amazing Bone by William Steig
This book is about a young pig named Pearl who stumbles upon a talking bone. This bone used to belong to a witch and can speak in any language or mimic any noise. On the way home Pearl runs into robbers but the bone talks and scares the robbers away. Next she runs into a fox but the fox doesn't fall for the bone's tricks. The fox takes Pearl home to eat for dinner. Just when the fox is about to chow down the bone says spells and the fox shrinks to the size of a mouse and saves Pearl.
This is considered a controversial book because of the use of tobacco (pictures depict adult animals with pipes and Pearl states that she sees adults spitting tobacco) and the use of weapons (pistols and daggers used by the robbers). I feel that these are minimal "controversies" and banning the book would just make kids miss out on a great story. The focus isn't tobacco or weapons but Pearl and her new friend, the amazing bone. I do not think the story would change if the tobacco use and weapons were taken out but I also think that knowing your students allows you to recognize that they are not going to go out and use tobacco or weapons after reading this book.
I feel that the illustrations in this book are pretty simple but Steig does a good job of showing emotion through his artwork. I would recommend this book for kids ages 3-10.
I agree that the controversial nature of this book is somewhat minimal. Perhaps I should not think this way though? Are children more likely to think violence is ok if they see it depicted in the children's books their parents are reading to them? Many studies have shown that their is a direct correlation between violent video games/tv media and violence in children. Maybe this is something to consider. I have to read the book myself to make any concluding statements. But it is also important to note that I don't think it is possible to shelter kids from violence if they are living in the world at the same time. They need to be aware of reality. I think this book would be an interesting one for kids to read and a discussion starter for the "controversial" topics of book banning and violence/drugs.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I agree with you. I think the reason why the tobacco use is bad is because it is normalized and made to be no big deal, especially since it is not part of the story. The message is implicit. Granted, I don’t think a kid would go smoke up after reading one book, but still, the message is still not a good one. I wonder why the author made this choice, if it doesn’t seem to be a part of the plot? I hear what you are saying that it is silly to ban it for such a little thing, but I would have to say that there are plenty of good stories out there in which the characters are not using tobacco; I’m not sure kids would be missing out. I don’t think I would read it unless there was a really compelling reason; Unless there was something in this book that other books cannot offer.
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