1. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
By: William Steig
Published by: Simon and Schuster Children’s
Publishing Division
Received Caldecott Medal in 1970
Presentation by: Rebecca Miller

3. Author’s Style
• The author uses a narrative view point when
telling this story.
• The illustrations help to further the plot of the
story and visualize what is happening.
• The author uses formal language and creates
many different emotions through his word
choices.
– He creates a sense of family and community.

4. This image
depicts Sylvester
turning back into
a donkey after
being turned into
a rock. The
author uses the
words, “embraces
, kisses, loving
looks, and
exclamations” to
describe this part
of the story. All of
these emotions
are easily seen
from this picture.

5. Style and Media
• The author uses cartoon art to illustrate his
book.
– The characters are all anthropomorphic animals.
– There are elements of real life: the following
picture shows their home, set up like a typical
nuclear family.
• The author uses painterly media through
bright water colors that portray the mood.

6. This is the first page of
the book. It helps the
reader visualize the
family dynamic
between Sylvester and
his parents. The
illustration style shows
many items seen in real
life: broom, table, fire
place. However, these
items are slightly
distorted and made to
look like a cartoon. The
colors are bright and
inviting.

7. Line
• The author uses line to create movement and
depth in his pictures.
• The reader’s eye is drawn to many different
parts of the picture before it is drawn to the
text.
• There is a lot of detail given within the
pictures to organize the space.

8. This picture uses diagonal lines to create
the movement of rain. You can see the
ducks in the background creating the
illusion of moving from left to right.

9. This picture is a full two page spread that has
curvy lines creating depth. There is also
movement from the trees in the front of the
picture.

10. Shape
• The shapes used in this book are mostly curvy.
• The author only uses a few angular shapes
when depicting more serious situations.

11. This shapes in
this picture are
curvy. The
characters are
outside in the
elements of
nature. The
“children” in this
picture are all
different shapes.

12. This picture
shows angular
shapes to help
the reader
visualize the
seriousness of
losing Sylvester.
The desk is the
main shape and
shows the
different
perspective of
the characters.

13. Color
• The author uses a variety of colors to
represent the various moods of the characters
as the face individual challenges through the
story.
• At the end of the story the mood brightens
and so does the color.

14. There is a distinct
color brightness
change as the book
progresses and
Sylvester is “lost” as
a rock while his
parents are
searching for him.
As you can see in
this picture, there is
a definite change in
mood, as reflected
by the darkness
outside.

15. The color in this
picture is bright
and cheery
because Sylvester
is reunited with his
parents. The warm
color choice
reflects the
happiness in the
picture. Also the
use of a white
background opens
up the picture.

16. Texture
• The use of texture can be seen throughout the
book.
• The fur of the donkeys have a “fluffy” look to
their fur.

17. You can see the
“fluffy” texture of
Sylvester’s fur in
this picture. This
texture was
accomplished by
using blending of
various textures
and overlapping
of lines.

18. Composition
• The author balances his illustrations
throughout the book. Through various
methods of symmetry.
• There are also illustrations that show object
dominance.

19. This picture shows symmetry with the group of
dogs in the front of the picture balanced by the
dogs and houses in the background. (The line was
added to show the balance)

20. There is an object
dominance in this
picture showing
the division of
power between
Sylvester’s
parents and the
police.