Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Fairy tales often feature battles between greed and selflessness: hungry wolf vs. courageous woodsman, cunning stepmother vs. gentle, generous Hansel, evil sisters vs. patient Cinderella.

William Steig creates a variation on a theme, in "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble." Here, the malevolent force is a shiny pebble: It seems to give you everything you wish for, but secretly, it wants to steal your soul. When Sylvester spots a menacing lion, he foolishly (understandably) wishes to become a rock; this wish saves his life, but it also causes him to become paralyzed and mute. He can't "un-transform" himself, because he is now immobile, and he is not in contact with the pebble.

Sylvester's parents are the true heroes. They search tirelessly for Sylvester. Even when they announce they're giving up, they continue thinking about Sylvester, talking about Sylvester. They spot a certain pebble and stash it on a rock ("because Sylvester always loved pebbles").

You can imagine what happens next. What I admire in this book is the sense of conviction, and the twistiness of the story. For many pages, it's unpredictable. Also, the art is stunning. The gold standard.

Comments

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When

Dad Diary

When babies are very tiny, a fair portion of the day is just napping/cuddling. But if your charges are two and four, things become sort of acrobatic. A big influence for me is Roz Chast, who has written extensively about her experience as a parent. She says that her own mother would often report, "I'm not your friend." And this drove her batty, such that she took on a different motto with her own kids: "I'm both your parent and your friend." It's a tricky sentence. You have to commit to one role over the other--at times. It's so wearying to say, "We don't eat a cupcake at 2:30 PM," just knowing your sentence is going to land on deaf ears, and that there will be tears, tears, and more tears. Another source of help for me is the Roz Chast set of "Bad Mom Trading Cards." She has taken her worst parenting moments and turned them into "collectibles." One example: "The day you run out of orange juice, so you offer or

New Thriller

One of many strange things about OJ Simpson is that he wandered around for thirty years after having murdered Goldman and Brown. For thirty years, he lived with the open secret. (I'm curious how the world of football will deal with the inevitable revelation that Simpson's brain shows signs of CTE. Maybe there will be a renewed, superficial interest in "anger management.") What happens after you kill someone? And, also, what happens to your parents? This later question is the odd source of inspiration for "What Happened to Nina?" by Dervla McTiernan. In a somewhat tasteless move, McTiernan has spent many months considering the story of Brian Laundrie, the OJ Simpson of 2021. After Laundrie murdered his girlfriend, he hung out with his parents for several days (then he disappeared into the wild, and committed suicide). What were the kitchen-sink conversations like? What did Laundrie's parents suspect, and when did their suspicions take shape? How (and whe

Liars and Saints

Search This Blog