Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969)

This book would be a good fit for intermediate elementary grade levels. It is a tale about Sylvester, a donkey who discovers a magic pebble. A problem arises when he uses his magic pebble to make wishes and accidentally wishes himself into a rock! This book is a fun story about appreciating what one already has. This could be a good book to utilize for readers theater or a creative writing assignment about what you would wish for if you discovered a magic pebble and what would happen. ( )

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I enjoyed it and didn't know about the controversy, and have not walked away from the book feeling any less goodwill towards police. From all the talk, you'd think this was hate speech! It's not.

It's a short tale about a young donkey ... if there are lessons to be learned, I guess it's "don't be hasty," although that's a hard one to apply when you're frightened by a lion. Maybe it's "be extra careful when you have a powerful weapon in your hands--in fact, don't carry such a thing around," which I can get behind.

Thought it a bit odd that for the most part it seemed grownups were clothed, and children were naked, although Monday at the park that was coming true for real by the splash pond ... and I liked that the plot wasn't at all what I would have predicted. Good, but I didn't cry.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

The ending is a tad unrealistic, but a gem of a story none the less and well written. ( )

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