Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is written and illustrated by William Steig includes words that may be unfamiliar to young children. Sylvester Duncan is a young donkey that is always looking for unusual pebbles to add to his collection. Sylvester finds a marble one day. Little does he know, it has magic powers. Sylvester is generous by thinking of everyone else's needs and wants. He knows that the magic pebble can get him anything they want. Sylvester runs into a hungry lion, and wishes he was a rock. His family is so upset when they can't find Sylvester. He learns that all his family really wanted was Sylvester.

Use in the classroom: I would use this in my classroom to teach context clues. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble has many unfamiliar words that students may not know. They will need to use context clues to figure out what the words mean in order to know what is going on in the story.

Grade: 1st-5th 

I've always found it curious that the USA, and Western Culture as a whole, was always so proud of and quick to trumpet its Greco-Roman origins yet made such tremendous efforts to studiously avoid one of the standards, if not pillars, of those aesthetics: homosexuality and how many of the great thinkers and shapers of their philosophy and way of life were openly gay. Slavery, too; they just didn't have too many problems with that part. But I digress. As I told a gay co-worker just the other night when we were discussing gay marriage, social progress and change are always inevitable. The only question is will they occur in our lifetimes.

Supreme Court Rules Same-Sex Marriage Legal in United States. Judgments like this, so historic yet fundamental, can always be summed up in the simplest of terms: respect, dignity and honor. And the SCOTUS wrapped this one up a rainbow colored ribbon with one paragraph.

In related news, this little gem almost goes unnoticed: Defense of Marriage Act rule Unconstitutional.

This Texas preacher's reaction comes as no great suprise, or loss, if he actually follows through with it.

As this post from Vox reminds us, gays and lesbians have always been here, pledging their love to their partners. And they always will be. Deal with it.