Steig, W. (1982). Doctor
de soto. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.
Newbery Honor Book, 1983
Doctor De Soto
is one of the shortest books to ever receive the Newbery Honor Award. It tells the story of a mouse of the same
name who is a very successful dentist.
He helps all kinds of patients, big and small, but he has strict rules
that he will not help any animals dangerous to mice, especially cats. As luck would have it, a well dressed, articulate
fox with a rotten bicuspid visits Doctor De Soto, begging for his help. Against his better judgment, he follows his
wife’s advice and agrees to help the fox.
Under the influence of medication, the fox admits that he would like to
eat the De Sotos, so when he returns the next day with plans to eat them after
he gets his new gold tooth, they have developed a plan to protect themselves.
They give him a treatment so that he never has a toothache again, and his teeth
are then glued together. In the end, the
De Sotos outwit the fox.
William Steig’s illustrations are simple and cute and will definitely appeal to children. I love how Steig makes the mice really seem so small compared to all of the animals they help, just as they should be. As in most fables, in Steig’s story, the De Sotos learn a valuable lesson that appearances can be deceiving, and they must join forces to “outfox the fox.”
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