This document provides an analysis of the illustrations in the children's book "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by William Steig. It discusses the author's use of different artistic styles including cartoon art and realism. It also analyzes key elements of the illustrations such as the lines, shapes, colors, textures, and composition. The illustrations utilize a variety of line thicknesses and styles to depict facial expressions, seasons, and other elements. A range of simple, basic shapes and colors are used throughout to create different objects and show changes between fall, winter, and spring.

1. Basic Information
• Title: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
• Author/Illustrator: William Steig
• Publisher, Copyright: An imprint of Simon & Schuster
Children’s Publishing Division, copyright 1969
• Award: 1970 Caldecott Medal winner

2. Style/Media
• The author used more than one style in this book. He used
cartoon art to portray the characters in this story. Realism was
also used throughout the story even though the characters were
animals being portrayed as real people. You can see in the
pictures the animals in the story are doing things that real
humans do on a regular basis. From sweeping the floor to
reading the news paper. The drawings used throughout the
story are also cartoon like drawings.

4. Line
• The lines used in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble vary throughout the
story. The author used many different lines to create the story. For
example in the first picture the author uses long slanted lines to create the
look of rain. In the next picture the straight lines were used to create the
look of hard wood floors. Straight lines were also used in this picture to
create the look of bricks. The lines on the next picture vary in size and
thickness. The author used long lines to create the trees and short lines to
create the grass. The hills and mountains were made using long, thick
lines. Lines were also used to make the stars in the sky. Lines were used to
make facial expressions on the characters in the book. By using the lines
we could tell if the characters were happy, sad, mad or surprised. Lines
don’t have to be one size or style and the author showed that throughout
the story.

6. Shape
• The shapes used in this story are simple and some are two
dimensional. In the first picture you can see the house does have
some depth to it but it is a very simple and basic house with not
a lot of detail. The stepping stones are a basic oval shape. Round
shapes were used often throughout the story for the sun, rocks,
flowers, pebbles, balls, spots on the dogs, yarn, and plates. The
author showed us in this story that you can use a basic shape
such as a circle to create many different objects.

8. Color
• The author used many different colors in this story. What is most
noticeable to me when reading this story is how the author used color to
show the change in seasons. The story went from fall, where the leaves are
orange, red, and yellow to winter where basically the page is white with a
little color from the brown wolf and tree branches. The author then uses
bright colors to show spring has arrived. This is shown by the bright
greens, pinks, and blues used in the pictures. The use of color on the sun
shows how hot and nice of a day it is in the story. Darker colors such as the
blues and dark greens shows its night time in the story. The dark colors
were also used to portray a thunder storm.

10. Texture
• Texture is seen throughout the book and I think most noticeable
on the characters. The lions main and fur both look to be
smooth and soft to the touch. The author achieves this look by
the brush strokes and lines he uses in his illustrations. The
author also made the mountains and hills in the story look
smooth to the touch by the brush strokes he used.

12. Composition
• The illustrations used in this book are symmetrical. For the
most part the pictures are at the top of the page with the writing
underneath the pictures. The pages in this story do have a lot of
white space. The pictures do not cover up the whole page. The
pictures all have soft, rounded edges to them. The leaves, trees,
hills, and mountains in the story were all proportioned to how
we see them in real life.