Scheherazade, Merlin, from the Once and Future King, and William Steig’s books for children made me the reader I am today. They all raised the bar for what I expected from the stories I read.
I will always remember the moment I met William Steig’s Gorky Rises. My children were very small and I was astounded that such a book existed in the world of children’s literature. Steig’s books—in addition to having language that soared, pictures that captivated me, and stories I wanted to go on forever—showed me how distinctive and extraordinary children’s books could be. His characters became my lifelong friends and I often think about the many wonderful things I learned from them. Here is one piece of wisdom that I learned from Gawain, a character in The Real Thief. Gawain is falsely accused by his friends of stealing. The reader is left to discover who is the real thief and Gawain learns some valuable things about himself and his friends. At the end of the story, he says: “ He was able to love them {his friends} again, but he loved them now in a wiser way, knowing their weakness.”
If this wasn’t enough, the ending to The Real Thief poses some ethical questions that are sure to jump-start an invigorating conversation. Welcome to the world of William Steig!
