Steig Continued...

Instead of just oogling and drooling over William Steig's work, I should share some excerpts so that you could join in and do the same. As I again read through some of his books, looking for good samples, I found that there would be many other useful ways to utilized his writing in the classroom. Aside from strong vocabulary content, Steig writes with uses various figures of speech and has strong, unconventional ideas for stories. His works are emulating examples of such topics.

Without further ado, I leave you with some excerpts:

The Amazing Bone

The wily fox was not as easily duped as the robbers. He saw no dangerous crocodile. He peered into Pearl's purse, where the sounds seemed to be coming from, and pulled out the bone. "As I live and flourish!" he exclaimed. "A talking bone. I've always wanted to own something of this sort." and he put the bone in his pocket, where it roared and ranted to no avail.

Gorky Rises

Now, in sudden rage, a storm went wild around him. Lightning shattered the sky, thunder banged and bellowed, hailstones battered his body. He was tossed about by gusts of wind so strong they almost ripped his pants off. It was no frolic, and it went on and on until the hail gave way to great slapping raindrops as large as acorns.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

The lion came bounding over, sniffed the rock a hundred times, walked around and around it, and went away confused, perplexed, puzzled, and bewildered. "I saw that little donkey as clear as day. Maybe I'm going crazy," he muttered.

Shrek!

Soon he came upon a pesant singing and scything. "You there, varlet," said Shrek. "Why so blithe?"

The peasant mumbled this reply:

"Im happy scything in the rye,

I never stop to wonder why.

I'll hone and scythe until I die.

But no I'm busy. So goodbye."

Dr. De Soto Goes to Africa

At long last, the elephant was able to smile. And giggle. And guffaw. He swung his wife into a frolicsome fandango. Then he devoured a huge meal of raw vegetables, with a bushel of peanuts on the side.

So there you have it. Don't you love the language? Do you have a favorite Steig book? Is it one of the above, or another? What do/would you use his books for?

Doctor De Soto Display

I found this picture and was instantly captured by.... the background. If you look closely, you might see Dr. De Soto standing atop his sky-rise ladder. Meanwhile the fox waits patiently with a wide-open mouth. Oh how I wish I had such a complimentary display for my library... I mean future library. Click the HERE to visit the source from which it came. Below is the Caldecott honor book that contains the characters from the above display (Doctor De Soto). The book next to it its sequel Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa. Click on them to purchase.

While on topic of the display and Doctor De Soto, I'll give a shout out for the author/illustrator William Steig. This will be the first of many shout outs for him. A distinguishing feature of most of his literature is inclusion of higher-level vocabulary. While the illustrations consist of cartoon-like characters, his fluency appeal and story concepts are more difficult than the front cover suggests. I especially recommend his books for higher elementary grade-level teachers, as finding appropriate picture books can become a bit tricky at that stage of learning.

Before I sign out, do you know where that Dr. De Soto Display came from? Please tell me! Also, check out these books and add them to your lot of reading!