Gorky Rises by William Steig

I've written before about my love of William Steigs stories. Here's another one. For ages four and up this is about Gorky, the frog who makes a Georges Marvellous Medicine type potion, and takes off, up, up into the sky. 

Whats great about this book? Well, it has a wide streak of oddballness running through it, which I love. The way it is written - perfectly -  is ideal to read aloud. But there is one page, which might put people off - it certainly did on the Amazon.com reviews. See it below..

Gorky's parents had been out all night looking for him. By now, they were so worried they were ready to kill themselves just to end their misery. They were scouring the terrain in the neighborhood of home, peering behind every bush, stone, and tree, and into every hole and crevice, no matter how tiny.

Listen, you'd really need to read the whole story to see if you'd like it (you would) but as I am recommending it I thought the sensible thing to do was to point this out too. 

Look at the animals watching him fly overhead. That guy in the left is a donkey, holding the reins of a horse. 

And  here, he flies over his cousin Gogol. He is very pleased to see the expression of envy and surprise on Gogols face. Which is a bit mean but completely normal. It is impossible not to like Gorky.

And so on he goes, higher and higher up into the atmosphere, causing the townspeople of Prunville to wonder "What the doodad was keeping him up there?" (my favourite line).

Its a strange, funny, good book. But bear in mind; it does encourage a LOT of messing in the kitchen.

Doctor De Soto by William Steig

I've been reading up on William Steig a lot recently. Well, reading about him and reading him. Having bought Doctor De Soto last Summer its proved to be a slow burner here. I suppose maybe I was expecting a lot, but when I read it first I thought, "It's not that great."  Its about a dentist who is also a mouse, who makes his living working on the teeth of other animals, many of whom are considerably bigger than he is.

Anyway, the book found its place on the shelf and we pulled it out every now and again, and then I saw the audio version in the library. I added it to our pile because well, it was free, why not? I hadn't even considered that when you think about it, when a picture book finds its way to audio, it has to be pretty well written right? And to be read by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci? Well, it was magical. Magical and weird and funny and just made all of us stop and listen and smile.

And now, the more I read Doctor De Soto the more I love it. Its just written in such a not-condescending way. As if kids can actually cope with lines like;

"Doctor De Soto climbed up the ladder and bravely entered the fox's mouth. "Ooo-wow!" he gasped. The fox had a rotten bicuspid and unusually bad breath."
or
"That night the De Sotos lay awake worrying. "Should we let him in tomorrow?" Mrs De Soto wondered.
"Once I start a job," said the Dentist firmly, "I finish it. My father was the same way.""

And all that is before you even look at the pictures. Check these out.

Some animals cannot be trusted..

and some animals can.

Here is the donkey, getting some work done..

and his wife, reading a magazine in the waiting room. Mrs De Soto, lends a hand.

All of which got me on a bit of an obsessive hunt for reviews of all his books and which we should read next. Even though I had officially finished the book side of Christmas shopping, when I saw that Burgin at Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves says that if you want your kids to think outside the box, read William Steig with them, I knew I had to get a few more. Amongst those she raves about are Gorky Rises and Rotten Island, both of which will be found under our tree on Christmas morning.