The Sweetest Fig, minus its book jacket, was an unattractive cast off at a library sale. Chris Van Allsburg's sepia-colored drawings of a mustachioed man and his dog made it look as if it belonged in the adult section. This was the kind of book I was looking for. Van Allsburg won two Caldecott awards. The Sweetest Fig captures the emotional drama of a callous man who’s about to learn a lesson from his long-suffering pet.
This is a clever story about empathy—or rather, the lack of it. It’s edgy and unsettling. The reading level is preschool - grade 3, but my resource is not appropriate for those grades. It taps into the darkness of Van Allsburg’s illustrations. The main character is a dentist, Monsieur Bibot, “a fussy man”. He’s smug and violent with his little dog, Marcel, and with a mysterious old woman who seeks relief for a toothache. She has no money to pay for his ruthless service, but she does give him two magic figs. “They can make your dreams come true,” she says with a wink.
Van Allsburg’s pictures demand the reader imagine what happened before and what happens next. The text suggests possibilities. In an online video, Van Allsburg labels his work surreal and mysterious. I’ve seen it described as fantasy.
My resource is for the older reader. Most
questions are open-ended to elicit interpretation and conversation. This
book is read aloud online by Ms
Garrison. In my opinion, her intonation
is appropriate for the story’s tone and
respects the older reader.
My Teachers Pay Teachers resource for this story is here.
