Which Would You Rather Be? - Hardcover

Steig, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060296534 ISBN 13: 9780060296537

Publisher: Picnic Time, 2002

Synopsis

A stick or a stone?
A cat or a dog?
Rain or snow?

Which would you rather be?

About this title

Review:

Would you rather be a stick or a stone? A cat or a dog? Thunder or lightning? William Steig (Sylvester and the Magic Pebble) teams up with illustrator Harry Bliss (A Fine, Fine School) in this simple picture book that cleverly illustrates the Would you rather... game popularized by the chirp y, leggy Jiminy Cricket. A magician's bunny, equipped with wand and black top hat, asks a boy and a girl which of two things they'd rather be. "A stick?" he asks as he conjures a stick out of the hat. "Or a stone?" he asks as he produces a hovering rock. Of course, the action picks up a little as living creatures start to emerge from the hat. (The kids have to run off, for instance, when they have to choose between a mouse and an elephant.) Grownup or kid? The grownup is a balding businessman reading a newspaper (while sticking out of the magician's hat), the kid is a skateboarding kid zooming out of the hat. The children, usually silent, quickly decide on that one.

If Harry Bliss had to choose between being himself or a bird, he wouldn't decide at all. He would want wings and he "definitely would not eat worms--no way." There's plenty of fodder for a lively read-aloud session here, as kids get creative in their analysis of the pros and cons of being a cat or a dog, etc., etc. For more complicated (and downright odd) choices, try John Burningham's delightful Would You Rather.... (Ages 3 to 6) --Karin Snelson

About the Author:

William Steig's drawings appeared regularly in The New Yorker since 1930. He also wrote and illustrated books for children, most recently his memoir, When Everybody Wore a Hat. His other books include Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, winner of the Caldecott Medal; The Amazing Bone, a Caldecott Honor Book; and Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, both Newbery Honor Books; Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa; Pete's A Pizza; and Zeke Pippin.

New York Times bestselling artist Harry Bliss is a cartoonist and cover artist for the New Yorker magazine. He is the author and illustrator of Bailey and Luke on the Loose and the illustrator of A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech, Which Would You Rather Be? by William Steig, Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, and Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo. His self-titled single panel gag cartoon Bliss appears in newspapers internationally. He lives in New Hampshire. You can visit him online at www.harrybliss.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Picnic Time
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060296534
• ISBN 13: 9780060296537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Bliss Harry