Author Study Blog - William Steig - By Heather Schmidt & Michel Awad

November 14th, 1907 - October 3rd, 2003

Born in Brooklyn, New York, William Steig was an American cartoonist, sculptor and later in life, an author of award-winning books for children.  Every member of his family was involved in the arts, and so it was no surprise when he decided to become an artist himself.  After dropping out of three separate colleges, his drawings began appearing in The New Yorker, where they became a permanent fixture.  Although his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, was published in 1968, Steig is most noted for the books Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto.  He also created the character Shrek, on which the DreamWorks movies are based. 

Titles of the Books We Read

Amos & Boris 
 

        A story of true friendship between a tiny mouse and a enormous whale

"Amos the mouse and Boris the whale:  a devoted pair of friends with nothing at all in common, except good hearts and a willingness to help their fellow mammal.  They meet after Amos sets out to sail the sea and finds himself in extreme need of rescue.  And there will come a day long after Boris had gone back to life at sea and Amos has gone back to life on dry land, when the tiny mouse must find a way to rescue the great whale."

                   Which Would You Rather Be?

 

           A story of a magic rabbit giving children choices in life

"A stick or a stone:  A cat or a dog?  Which would YOU rather be?"

      Doctor De Soto

             A story of finding good qualities, responsibility and trust in any creature, large or small

"Doctor De Soto and his wife treat the toothaches of animals large and small.  His expertise is so great that his fortunate patients never feel any pain. 

Since he's a mouse, Doctor De Soto refuses to treat animals who have a taste for mice.  But one day, a fox shows up and begs for relief from the tooth that's killing him.  How can the kindhearted De Soto turn him away?  But how can they make sure that the fox doesn't eat them one his tooth is fixed?  Those clever De Soto will find a way."

 

 

          Sylvester and the Magic Pebble       

                A story of a magic stone that can make all of your dreams come  true.....or can it?

http://prezi.com/wth2hc4ybozp/copy-of-sylvester-and-the-magic-pebble/

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, like most of Steig's works deals with imagination/fantasy in a realistic setting.  The story explores many aspects of human relationships including love, hope, gratitude, loyalty, patience, courage and faith.  Winner of the Caldecott medal in 1970, we chose Sylvester and the Magic Pebble because of the vast messages it portrayed and the fun-loving nature of the story itself. 

Genre of William Steig

Over decades, William Steig contributed more than 1600 cartoons to The New Yorker magazine, including 117 covers, leading Newsweek to dub him "The King of Cartoons."  Upon writing his first children's book in 1968, he went on to write more than 30 children's books and continued to write well into his 90s.  The genre of his works often included themes of well-invented imagination in realistic settings, oftentimes portrayed through watercolors done by the very author who created the story, William Steig.