Customer Reviews

Full Moon Soup

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a second grade teacher, I see a few books read to tatters year after year. This book is among the absolute favorites in my classroom. Although it has no words, it has thousands of stories unfolding over the pages, getting more silly in each scene. I find this book wonderful for reluctant readers, as they feel successful and start seeing books as cool and fun. I'm going to need more copies to keep up with demand. An original and entertaining book.

I found this book in the Children's section and bought it for myself. This is the most incredible book I have found and I have 'read' it over and over. The story depics odd goings on at a large mansion. The children who visit my house have been captured by the colorful detailed pictures and neighbor children occasionally stop by and ask to see the book. The oversized book has pictures spanning two pages each with so much detail that I find something new every time I open it. Each picture has dozens of stories unfolding and you find yourself flipping forwards and backwards to see what will happen and to find what happened earlier to cause what you see on the page you are reading. I have found no other picture book in this. It makes children think and ask 'what made that happen' as they read it.

I gave this book to my 6-year-old on the second leg of a loooong plane trip. It kept her absorbed for almost an hour. She isn't reading yet, so it was a relief to give her something she could look at independently (especially as she was seated across the aisle). Since that trip, the book gets moved from the car to the church bag, and it continues to hold her interest several months later.
Have to admit I haven't really looked at it myself, but after seeing some of the other reviews I'll have to give it a try!

These wordless story books are rich in detail and drama and can inspire the most book phobic child to reconsider their viewpoint. The story here centres on a peaceful evening in a tranquil country hotel. Weird and wonderful things begin to happen when the soup is served up! The Hotel action is shown in double page spreads of glorious activity and superbly detailed art work. With each page turn you have a myriad of events to witness and decipher as each character has progressively madcap events unfold for them. You will want to cross reference several times to grasp a fuller understanding of the action. There are factfinding questions at the rear of the book which will have you hunting all over again! A marvellous, amusing and highly innovative route into concentrating the minds of reluctant readers and hyperactive minds. Devilishly funny for adults too! Must have books as the possibilities for spur off activities and fun learning are endless.

I am so glad to see that this book is coming out in soft cover. I have a hard cover version that I bought in a clearance sale. I teach second grade and my copy is being loved to pieces! I have repaired several pages, not because kids are damaging the book, but because it is being read so often. They invent wondcerful stories to follow the lavish illustrations. My most reluctant readers love the book because it has no words. I have inspired many students to read by intoducing them to this comical, non-threatening book. They start seeing books as cool. Very fun and endlessly entertaining. I myself sneak time to go through the dozens of stories imbedded into the pictures. Very cool!

People may call this a children's book. They may be right. I, however, am sixteen years old, and I have yet to outgrow this book. What can I say -- it's FUNNY! Funny and clever and maddeningly detailed and a lot of other stuff. Every time I browse through it, I see something I missed seeing before. How many books can make that claim.

"Full Moon Soup" is presented in cross-section format; every page presents the same cutaway view of a posh hotel. As the book opens, everything seems normal. When the book ends, the Hotel Splendide has been reduced to a pile of rubble. It acheives this utter collapse through a very complicated, hilarious series of abnormal mishaps revolving around the various eccentric and nonhuman residents of the hotel. Let's see....there's a sullen teenage bellhop, a mother with a screaming baby, a Spanish fiddle-player, a squadron of cops, a bratty little girl, a gorilla under the bed, two young lovers, a Scotsman with a very energetic dog, a vampire, a pair of aliens, a pair of ghosts, a werewolf, a gigantic boa constrictor, a surfing Eskimo, a curious herd of sheep, a large mummy, a maid who gets sucked into a vacuum cleaner, ANOTHER werewolf, a vicar, an elephant, a granny, a cat, a hunchback, a partridge in a pear tree....and I'm probably forgetting several characters.

It's best to read the book multiple times to see exactly what befalls each character and why. Then read it a hundred more times to soak in all the tiny details. It seems that each and every object in the hotel, from the sausage links in the kitchen to the stuffed alligator in the attic, has a life of its own. The pictures on the walls come to life and enact little mini-dramas of their own (what happens to the portrait of the Shakespearean bard is particularly side-splitting). New characters emerge from every corner, and each page holds new insane surprises. Don't worry kids, no one gets killed, although there are a few comic injuries. Yes, parents, there are a few jokes about peeing (watch what the vicar does in the final scenes), gender bending (the gorilla grabs a maid and steals her outfit), and alcohol (the drunken vagrant on the bridge who has no idea what's going on behind him). Overall, though, kids'll eat this right up.

And hey, Mom and Dad? Don't feel guilty about liking this wonderful book yourselves. Because I'm a sulky, whiny teenager, and I don't.

"Full Moon Soup" RULES!!!

I loved this book-- it's so detailed and the way the plot lines interact is fascinating. I've "read" it a dozen times, and found something new each time.

A gift purchased for a small girl and yet provided all in my home with laughter and excitement on every page.A wonderment that a book could capture attention in people ages 3 to 85. My own children were dissapointed when the gift was finally given. We will now have to buy our own copy!

Bought this book years ago for my daughter... now I have a new copy for my grandsons! LOVE this book! The kids have a great time flipping back and forth to see what happens to all the characters at the hotel... and those from much farther away!

No reading involved, just loads of fun!

I read these books with both younger sons for years and we loved them. It's amazing how many times you can "read" one of the books and yet find something you had never noticed before. Such a neat way to engage young children in books. We would make up our own stories and the boys would try to best each other in finding the most unusual happening on each page. If you buy one I'm sure you'll want the other. Very, very enjoyable!