The Sweetest Fig

Like all of Chris Van Allsburg's books,The Sweetest Fig asks a basic moral and philosophical question: Is it okay to treat others whom we consider to be "beneath" us with less respect than we treat those whom we want to like us? There are other lessons to be gleaned from this book but this is it's central idea. Older children (8,9,10)can explore the implications of their choices with adult prompts. For example, the adult could ask, "Are there some people we consider "beneath" us?" What traits or conditions in another person would make them "beneath" us?" (ie. their level of wealth, intelligence, ownership of things, age,place where they live, etc.)"What kinds of things do we do or say that would make those people understand that we consider them "below" us?" "What does the word 'respect' mean?" "Is it all right to show respect to some but not to others?" "Do we sometimes disrespect animals too?" "How did the dentist disrespect his dog?" "In your opinion, is that okay?" "What do you think Chris Van Allsburg thinks about respecting animals as well as people?" (All put into kid language, of course.)I love the way Van Allsburg leaves the reader with both a feeling of satisfaction and yet an uneasiness that perhaps our own motives with others are not always so pure. And I love too, that adults can use his books as vehicles to help a child explore the implications of our behavior and to help a child begin to define his/her own character and personal philosophy, which, of course, is the development of the adult "self."I am giving this book to my 9 year old great granddaughter who I think is ready to explore some of these questions.

This book is so interesting I love it even as an adult! All kids should read this book. Its still one of my favorites and I love to read. My parents would never buy it for me when I was little because we were poor. So now that Im older, I bought it for my niece. I love how this book teaches to be nice to animals without being preachy. I have dogs and I love them so much. I hope my niece turns out to be a dog lover too. So far it seems like she is!

Great to use as a mentor text in my classroom to discuss characterization and plot twists. Teach 5-8 ELA and they all love this book.

I've read this to countless elementary school students as well as my own two children. This book is a crowd-pleaser. The main character is not very nice and, frankly, it's fun to watch his own dog get one over on him. And like all books by Chris Van Allsburg, the art is superb.

Ha ha ha :) What more to write about this book than to say have the fig and you will know. The more we read Allsburg's stories the more we get to understand the complicated human natures. He depicts our vanities, and our wishes so well that even though these are kids books as adults we take away a lot from each of them. A great one again!

Outstanding illustrations - very moody and almost a little dark which perfectly match the somewhat dark story. This story is not your typical feel good, do good childrens book - it definitely has a little dark side. I would not consider this a picture book for very young children but appropiate for children in first to second grade. It lends itself well to be read aloud by an adult with some commentary and discussion with the child. It has a definite " let's think about this" twist to it which benefits and may even require mindful adult support and guidance. It may not be appealing to a highly impressionable child prone to bad dreams.

I used this book as a read aloud to my 5th graders. We were looking for text evidence he was a bad pet owner. This book has a surprising ending and I has my students make a prediction before I finished reading the end of the book.

Revenge is sweet. So is this book. This could have been a Twilight Zone episode. Every dog gets his day and you want to clap for this one. It is a great short story children will get and remember and maybe even make good choices because of it. A good example of the Golden Rule. The 5 year old I bought it for loved it.

What an adorable story, with a lovely little lesson delivers with humour, not at all preachy. The illustrations take you back to another era, really lovely.

amazing

Great story and great for teaching inferring!