THE SWEETEST FIG by Chris Van Allsburg

The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg is one of those unique books that is simply “different.” I can think of no other way of describing this book, other than delightfully and simply "quirky." It is an absolute delight for both young and old. It is a simple story of an uptight dentist, a long suffering dog, an old, poor lady down on her luck, and two very interesting magic figs which will make your dreams come true. The dentist takes the two magic figs, rather begrudgingly, as payment for dental work done for the old lady.

Now this is enough of the story line. This is a story of greed and the consequences of greed. The art work in this small book is absolutely wonderful. The longer you study each frame, the better it gets. The text is quite simple and very easy to understand. The story explores a side of human nature (for some people) that needs to be explored. Your kids will be running into individual like our unlikeable dentist all of their lives, and this book will give them something to remember and something to snicker about as they get older. Now some folk, I like to call them the "hand-wringers", will think that the story and the way it is told may not be appropriate for younger children. Yes, there is some implied mild violence, some very sly and vague Freudian imagery (if your child can spot this, then she or he is well beyond the understanding level of most adults and you probably need to upgrade the child’s reading list), and indeed, the way the greedy dentist treats his dog is not nice at all. This of course is the responsibility of each individual parent to make this decision, but for the life of me, I cannot find the objection here.

This wonderful morality tale gives the parent loads of little items that can be discussed with the child as the story is being read, and there are many little lessons to be learned here. I have read this book to children in the class room as young as six and they all certainly got the meaning of the story, enjoyed it, and loved it when the dentist got what was coming to him. Let us not underestimate the brightness of our children. In many ways they are much smarter and more perceptive than we are. Recommend this one highly. (Love the little dog, by the way).

Considerations :::
The Sweetest Fig has an Accelerated Reading (AR) designation of 3.7 which means that the average 3rd Grader in the 7th month of school should be able to read it without getting frustrated by the vocabulary. It can be read aloud to any age.


The Sweetest Fig

• Accelerated Reading level :
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
• ISBN-10: 0395673461

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