Abel's Island by William Steig

1977 Newbery Honor
Finished 12-10-06

When his wife’s scarf blows away during a thunderstorm, Abel, a gallant mouse, attempts to rescue it. Through a series of circumstances, he is stranded upon an island that seems to have no way off. Abel is naturally dismayed. He must get back home to his wife—but how?

It’s hard to pinpoint what I didn’t care for about this book. It may have had something to do with the length of the book. The book is interspersed with illustrations, and isn’t horribly long, and I wanted it to be either longer or shorter. It seemed to fall a little bit too much in the middle of the two. Abel spends quite a while on the island, and the events seem a little too summarized.

My other problem, I think, was that I found there to be a lack of excitement. Even when exciting things happened, the author told them in a way that I felt was slightly yawn worthy.

If I were to recommend this to someone, it would be to a child who was just starting to read chapter books. The length would probably be good for him or her, and hopefully the author’s style wouldn’t bother him or her.