Rotten Island

Rotten Island

William Steig 1984

 Bursting with color and comedy and tragedy, Steig's story seems alive on the pages.  He depicts an island filled with absolute rottenness- from the terrible monsters on the land and air and sea, to the horrific weather with "an earthquake an hour, black tornadoes, lightning sprees with racking thunder, squalls, cyclones, and dust storms.  At night it froze; all the living things stopped moving and turned to ice."  The island is covered with volcanoes and hot lava and sharp gravel.  Each page is comically worse and worse and the pictures are fantastic!  One day, a small thing of beauty occurs and changes the island forever.  The story almost feels too allegorical to be a children's book, but children will definitely delight in the over-the-top depictions of the horrible island life.

Abel's Island

Abel's Island (A Newbery Honor Book)

William Steig 1976

The other night we started reading about Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint. He and his wife were out picnicking when a storm struck. They sought refuge in a cave but when his wife’s scarf blew off her neck Abel rashly ran after it and was swept away and marooned on an island. This “Edwardian dandy” of a mouse, fond of wearing a purple cravat, was forced to live by his wits and natural instinct. Alone on the island for a year, he makes profound observations about himself and the remarkable nature around him. We finished it last night, all four of us tucked up in my bed (it was thunder storming and Chris wasn’t home yet).

Rain caused one to reflect on the shadowed, more poignant parts of life- the inescapable sorrows, the speechless longings, the disappointments, the regrets, the cold miseries. It also allowed one the leisure to ponder questions unasked in the bustle of brighter days; and if one were snug under a sound roof, as Abel was, one felt somehow mothered, though mothers were nowhere around, and absolved of responsibilities. Abel had to cherish his dry log.

Steig managed to write such a beautiful, witty, sentimental, romantic, and clever story, made all the better with his scattered illustrations.

Amos and Boris

 

Amos & Boris   [AMOS & BORIS] [Hardcover] 

William Steig 1971

William Steig is so fantastic.  We love all of his books with their simple, honest drawings.  This one is about an unlikely friendship between a mouse and a whale.  Amos is saved from drowning by Boris and on their way back to land a comfortable friendship develops between them.  Later Amos is able to repay his friend by saving him when he is accidentally beached.