The Sweetest Fig: A Mysterious Fantasy Picture Book About Dreams Becoming Reality for Children (Ages 4-7)

This book is for the more refined elementary/intermediary reader. What begins as a sad story has a delightful end. Chris Van Allsburg is a wonderful story teller. The illustrations compliment the story beautifully.

One of my neighbors shares figs from her fig tree, each summer, which I adore. I usually purchase her an Italian fig cake for Christmas in thanks, but this year I thought I would upgrade to a children’s book with lovely illustrations. She doesn’t have any grandchildren yet, but she will eventually! It’s never too soon to begin collecting children’s literature. 😀

A "delightful" book for children and "grown-ups". An air of mystery, vocabulary that doesn't talk down to children, especially beautiful illustrations and. of course, the surprise moral. While reading this to my nine year old, who could certainly have read it himself, I had the opportunity to discuss the occasional French vocabulary and a few other words that needed some meaning enhancement. What fun the book is ; I look forward to reading it with my other grandchildren, 8 and 10, who will enjoy it just as much as their grandmother.The fig tree in my yard that produces such sweet figs is a bonus to the story.

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!

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.

Really good story and great illustrations

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.

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.

As a teacher librarian I have shared this book with my grade 6 and 7 students every year. It’s another example of this authors twists and turns that creates wonder and interest.

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!