The Amazing Bone

It's a bright and beautiful spring day, and Pearl is dawdling on her way home from school. Most unexpectedly, she strikes up an acquaintance with a small bone. 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. But the trip home turns out to be surprisingly treacherous. Can a pig and a small talking bone outwit a band of robbersanda hungry fox? In the world of William Steig, anything is possible.

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. Steig was born in New York City. Every member of his family was involved in the arts, and so it was no surprise when he decided to become an artist. He attended City College and the National Academy of Design. In 1930, Steig’s work began appearing in The New Yorker, where his drawings have been a popular fixture ever since. He published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968.  In 1970, Steig received the Caldecott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. His books for children also include Dominic; The Real Thief; The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book; Amos & Boris, a National Book Award finalist; and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books. Steig's books have also received the Christopher Award, the Irma Simonton Black Award, the William Allen White Children's Book Award, and the American Book Award. His European awards include the Premio di Letteratura per l'infanzia (Italy), the Silver Pencil Award (the Netherlands), and the Prix de la Fondation de France. On the basis of his entire body of work, Steig was selected as the 1982 U.S. candidate for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration and subsequently as the 1988 U.S. candidate for Writing.  Stieg also published thirteen collections of drawings for adults, beginning with About People in 1939, and including The Lonely Ones, Male/Female, The Agony in the Kindergarten, and Our Miserable Life.  He died in Boston at the age of 95.

“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