Solomon the Rusty Nail

by William Steig

Here, in the great tradition of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Caleb and Kate, is another tale of magical transformation from William Steig. Its hero, young Solomon, is an ordinary rabbit--well, ordinary in every respect but one. Whenever he scratches his nose and wiggles his toes at exactly the same time, he turns into a rusty nail. To turn back into a rabbit, all he has to do is thing: "I'm no nail, I'm a rabbit!" This unusual talent enables Solomon to play some gratifying practical jokes, but it also leads to serious trouble when he's waylaid by a one-eyed cat who plans to turn him into Hasenpfeffer. Solomon promptly becomes a rusty nail and steadfastly refuses to change back, even after Ambrose, the cat, and his wife, Clorinda, lock him up in a cage in their guest room. Sooner or later, they figure, they'll be dining no bunny stew. How can Solomon possibly find a way out of this dilemma?

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Animals, Adventure

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

William Steig was born in New York City in 1907. In a family where every member was involved in the arts, it was not surprising that Steig became an artist.

He published his first children's book, Roland the Minstrel Pig, in 1968, embarking on a new and very different career.

Steig's books reflect his conviction that children want the security of a devoted family and friends. When Sylvester, Farmer Palmer, Abel, Pearl, Gorky, Solomon, and Irene eventually get home, their families are all waiting, and beginning with Amos & Boris, friendship is celebrated in story after story.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...

Reviews

[Dest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bizarre story with a wonderful moment in it:

"Sometimes the world looked so beautiful he felt satisfied just being a tiny part of it, even embedded in wood."

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a weirdo picture book. Seriously strange. But at the same time, I really liked it, and I think I would have adored it as a kid.

[Lisa]

I prefer the story of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, but this one is fun, too. I love the illustrations.

The only thing I don't like is that the bad guy is a one-eyed cat, because as the owner of a one-eyed dog, I know one-eyed animals are FULL OF LOVE and would never put you in a cage in the hopes of later eating you for dinner.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

Absurd. Odd. Creative. The kids are intrigued. (Some of the kids have really liked titles by Steig, which the others just shrug and move on.)

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is very similar to Steig's story in which the youngster turns into a stone...

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solomon the Rusty Nail is one of William Steig's funniest books. The humor comes almost entirely from lines that the characters speak and think as a result of the fact that young Solomon the rabbit can turn himself into a rusty nail, at will.

By sheerest coincidence, Solomon finds out one day that he can turn himself into a rusty nail (yes, it's true; a rusty nail) just by scratching his nose and wiggling his toes simultaneously. Solomon conceals this bizarre ability from his family, using it only to play a few innocent practical jokes on them, but one day when he's out trying to catch butterflies in his net, an unsavory one-eyed cat learns the secret of the rusty-nail trick and brings Solomon back home to his wife in inanimate nail form.

The transformed Solomon is in a real fix now. The weeks pass as he remains trapped in his cage that the cats have employed to prevent him from escaping, and eventually he gives up ever seeing his family again. Just when all hope seems lost, though, a dangerous malady at the house the cats live in suddenly gives Solomon an unexpected chance at freedom.

William Steig does what he does better than anyone else, and Solomon the Rusty Nail is a great example of his prowess as both a writer and illustrator. I'd probably give it two and a half stars.

[Jay Bushara · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Misbah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very weird story. Kinda funny I guess.

A rabbit, Solomon, who can turn into a rusty nail gets chased by a cat who wants to eat him. He transforms into a nail to hide from the cat. The cat sees Solomon transform and takes him home to wait him out and eat him once he's a rabbit again. When Solomon doesn't change back the cat games him into his house in anger. The poor rabbit/nail is stuck there until one day the cats house catches fire and burns down, freeing him. Solomon happily changes back into a rabbit and races home.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

52 months-enjoyable and similar to his other transformation book... But we prefer the magic pebble more.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just as weird as it sounds. That level of weirdness makes it awesome.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solomon and the Rusty Nail by William Steig- Children’s book- This is a tale of magical transformation of Solomon the Rabbit. The moment Solomon scratches his nose and wiggles his toes, at exactly the same time, he turns into a rusty nail. Otherwise, Solomon is a normal rabbit. He lives in his house with his parents and family members. Now, in order to convert him from rusty nail to rabbit, he has to do is thing, he has to thin that: "I'm no nail, I'm a rabbit!" This unusual talent enables Solomon to play some gratifying practical jokes, but it also leads to serious trouble when he's waylaid by a one-eyed cat who plans to turn him into Hasenpfeffer. Solomon promptly becomes a rusty nail and steadfastly refuses to change back, even after Ambrose, the cat, and his wife, Clorinda, lock him up in a cage in their guest room. Sooner or later, they figure, they'll be dining no bunny stew. Ambrose & Chorinda take turns and wait for a few days and guards the cage to find out when Solomon will change into a rabbit, but his does not happen. Amborse takes him out and with a help of a hammer, he sticks the rusty nail to the outside wooden wall of his house. Next day, Ambrose lights his pipe to smoke throws the match stick on the dry grass near his house. The grass catches fire and the wooden wall starts burning. The rusty nail comes out and falls down. All are busy in brining pails of water to quench the fire. No one has time to look can Solomon. Solomon turns himself into a rabbit and arrives home. His parents and family members are happy. His family members found that his nest to catch butterfly was lying on the ground therefore, they conclude that some animals has eaten him up. The whole family unites. They all pray to God that Solomon should not get another opportunity of this kind.

[⋆｡˚꒰ঌ worm ໒꒱˚｡⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book was really weird. It's about a bunny that turns into a rusty nail. For awhile he only does it as a party trick to fool his friends and family- then forgets about it until he gets mugged to be dinner by a cat.

This was just really really weird. I don't think there was any moral or anything, but it was enjoyable enough.

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 3 out of 5]

عنوان ترجمه فارسی: میخ سحرآمیز

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kafkaesque, I guess.

[Barbara Woosencraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting but Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was better.

[Carrie Etter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inventive story that would be more fluent with better writing

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait. Didn't you already do this plot?

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon, an otherwise ordinary rabbit, discovers he can turn himself at will into a rusty nail. Steig delights the eye with his play of colors and makes you laugh out loud with his verbal surprises.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The firsts sentence of the book pretty much says it all: "Solomon was an ordinary rabbit, except for one thing: anytime he wanted to, he could turn into a rusty nail." Yup. There you have it, but it actually it's a pretty entertaining story. Here is a list of the words from this book that I didn't really know:
1.Pazoozle
2. Scut
3. Hansenpfeffer
This story also features Ambrose, the one-eyed, knife-wielding cat and his wife, Clorinda. I think the message of this story is that there's no place like home but it arrives at that moral in a very roundabout way.

[Malbadeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main character in this book unwittingly discovers he has the magical ability to turn himself into a nail. He is delighted and takes advantage of his new found power until he overindulges and finds himself nail into a house and nearly dying in a fire. I LOVE STEIG'S BOOKS!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lot like Steig's other book "Selvester and the Magic Pebble," except that instead of being able to turn into anything, he can only turn into a nail, which is, I dunno, kind of weird.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

a rabbit who can turn himself into a rusty nail. one of D's favorites.

[Sarah]

Read this one in college...borrowed it from the school library!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great childrens book by William Steig. The absurdity of it all! Inspires me to write my own...

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre but charming.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was better.

[Diana Pettis]

Very cute story with a simple lesson about the main character. I could use this as a guided reading text but need to go over vocabulary: discombobulated

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of his magic object gone wrong tales but still wonderful with the bad guys getting their comeuppance!

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a weird weird book.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:
similar to Sylvester
the house burning scene might frighten sensitive kids
best for age 7+