Book of the Month : Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Last month, we missed out the post on the Book of the Month. Hence, this month, there will be 2 such posts. Little One chose this book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, to be told repeatedly prior her bedtime in February.

I had ordered this book from Scholastic Inc. while Little One was in childcare 2 years ago after reading good reviews about it. It is also a Caldecott Award Winner. The story is written by William Steig. I have not been reading the book to Little One because I thought the book is too wordy for her then and that she may lost interest if I were to read to her.

As some of you may be aware, I rotate books for bedroom at least once per two months. Hence, Little One does have the option of choosing the book for me to read if she wants to. However, many times, it did not happen. Hence, I was surprised when she chose the book for me to read one night. I knew it was time to introduce some wordy books to her.

I knew many words she may not know such as "extraordinary", "ceased" and "inquiring"  but I translated in Chinese so that she has a better understanding of the story. To my surprise, night after night, she requested for the same book again and again. It lasted for almost a week.

The gist of the story is about a donkey named Sylvester who loves collecting pebbles, found a special magic pebble which made everything he wished for come true. Until he met a lion, and then an unfortunate turn of events followed.

From this book, Little One learnt about hobby. A hobby can be anything from collecting stamps, coins, stickers , cards, etc to sewing, crafting and such... She told me she wants to collect saga seeds!

What I like about this book is the thoughtfulness of Sylvester. He had thought of making everyone's wishes come true. This is quite a kind act from a young donkey. I hope Little One would learn from him.

The book also make Little One realised when one panics, they could make foolish decisions. Best solution is to calm oneself. She also realised when someone is missing from the family, every members will be sad.

The illustrations captured Little One's attention and she wanted to know what exactly is the story. As I started to tell her the story, she was intrigued by the idea of magic pebble and wished she had one too. She also wanted to find out what would happen to Sylvester after he own the pebble.

Little One requested me to read again when she saw me reviewing the book on the blog. That is how much she enjoys the book.

PS: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are our own.