The Books

Solomon the Rusty Nail

by William Steig

One Potato Review

Of all things. This magical ability that Solomon discovers quite by accident (he scratches his nose and wiggles his toes at exactly the same time) becomes a party trick, an afterthought, and finally a means of escaping the ravenous Ambrose, a cat who looks like he hasn’t had very much luck at this sort of thing, and grumps and stomps around as Solomon continues to frustrate his grandest ambitions. There’s mortal peril here, and plain old mischief, but, oh, the language! “Quit the hanky panky, you stubborn piece of junk,” fumes Ambrose, near the end of his patience. “Turn back into a bunny, at once!” Here is one of the great children’s writers of our time, at his whimsical, exuberant best.