Stone Soup [Paperback]

Heather Forest (Author), Susan Gaber (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Two hungry travelers arrive at a village expecting to find a household that will share a bit of food, as has been the custom along their journey. To their surprise, villager after villager refuses to share, each one closing the door with a bang. As they sit to rest beside a well, one of the travelers observes that if the townspeople have no food to share, they must be in greater need than we are.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Forest and Gaber (previously paired for The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies; The Baker's Dozen) revisit this oft-told tale to demonstrate the pleasures of collaboration and mutual generosity. Two hungry travelers, denied food by the inhabitants of a mountain village, publicly declare that they can make soup from a stone. Only they need a carrot... and a potato... and a few more ingredients to make it taste really good. Everyone in the town contributes something, pronounces the soup delicious and learns the magic behind it: sharing. Gaber's bold acrylic paintings emphasize the big black soup tureen and the brightly colored vegetable ingredients. As each member of the multiracial town speaks up to offer a contribution, a speech bubble appears showing a picture of the offering. Forest's jolly prose simmers with energy: "Bring what you've got! Put it in the pot!" cry the travelers. Flavorful and nutritious, this classic tale is served up with a smile. A recipe for stone soup tops it off. Ages 4-8. (May) FYI: The other two folktales in the series are The Dancing Turtle: A Folktale from Brazil, retold by Pleasant DeSpain, illus. by David Boston; and a bilingual title, The Girl Who Wore Too Much: A Folktale from Thailand, retold by Margaret Read MacDonald, trans. by Supaporn Vathanaprida, illus. by Yvonne Lebrun Davis (each $15.95 ISBN -502-X; -503-8; May)
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1AAs they did in The Baker's Dozen (1993) and The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies (1990, both Harcourt), this storyteller and illustrator have once again collaborated in the retelling of a traditional tale. Unlike Marcia Brown's classic version in which three hungry French soldiers are returning from a war (Scribners, 1947), this Stone Soup is not linked to any particular time or place. The straightforward, didactic retelling concludes with the lesson (for those readers who somehow missed it): "'These two travelers made such a delicious soup out of a stone.' 'Out of a stone,' said the travelers with a grin, 'and a magical ingredient...sharing.'" Gaber's brilliantly colored paintings illuminate a mountain village with a multicultural population. Whereas Brown's version offers readers a tasty mix of suspicious peasants and clever soldiers, Forest's tale has a medicinal aftertaste.AKathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: August House (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874836026
• ISBN-13: 978-0874836028
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Social Issues > Homelessness & Poverty
  • #24 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Multicultural
  • #51 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Multicultural

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stone soup is a contemporary version of the popular folktale, May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stone Soup (Hardcover)

Stone Soup is a popular folktale in many countries that has been told for centuries. The Author Heater Forest tells a contemporary version of the popular folktale. Her Stone Soup is an imaginatively creative story with colorfully descriptive pictures that bring the plot about sharing to life. The author's writing is so clear and vivid that reader's can see the characters even before looking at the pictures. The illustrations are realistically drawn and help kids follow along with the story. The author uses the illustrations to teach kids a lesson about sharing. In Stone Soup, two hungry travelers stumble into a village. The travelers go door to door asking for food. Because the villagers say there is no food, the travelers decide to help them by making their magical soup. In the process of making the soup, the village learnes that if everyone shares good things can come out of it. The language and concept is simple for kids. When the traveler talks to the villagers, he uses simple words. "Please ," said one of the travelers, "we are hungry. Do you care? Will you share? Do you have any food?" These simple sentences express many ideas about sharing. "Do you care?" says that if a person doesn't share it's because they don't care. "Do you have any food?" says that if a person has food they should share it. Stone Soup isn't just good reading that is imaginative and creative; it also tells a moral, which teaches kids a lesson but doesn't preach to them. The moral, that if everyone shares then the outcome is huge, comes across clearly in this imaginative story. The travelers said the magic ingredient to their stone soup is sharing; every contribution counts from the smallest to the largest when people share. This is a idea kids can use in their lives. The author tells a well-written story that, even without pictures, could put the characters vividly in one's mind. The author makes a vivid picture of the travelers hopelessness in the reader's mind: "...travelers came along. Their coats were tattered. Their hats were torn. Their dusty shoes had holes in their soles." Using these descriptive words helps everyone enjoy this story. Susan Gaber illustrated this book. She made the pictures so detailed that a person can see the hair on a man's beard and the buttons on a kid's top, but not so much detail that it takes away from the story. The pictures are realistically drawn and colored. There are no purple trees or orange-haired people. This adds to the realistic plot of the story. Gaber does a great job drawing difficult items, for example: a kernel of corn and a green bean. The colors that are used are bright. When characters talk there is a picture of the main topic in the bubble of what the person is saying. An example of this is when a man says he has a potato and the picture shows a bubble with a potato in it. This helps kids follow the story. From start to finish, Stone Soup is a page-turner, with colorfully detailed pictures to its descriptive wording, which bring alive the imaginative story. Stone Soup is well-written for its age group, using word and concepts kids will understand, while at the same time teaching them a moral and new ideas about sharing. This is definitely one book to check out. -Michele Jicha

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best version of the Stone Soup story, July 5, 2006

By 

L. Stift (Salem, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stone Soup (Hardcover)

For the classic tale of two peddlers making soup out of a stone, there are many versions of this story. The illustrations and story in Heather Forest's version are suberb! There is a recipe for stone soup at the end of the book. I read this story to my kids' kindergarten classes as a way to teach the idea that when you work together you can make something great for the community! The kids bring canned vegetables to "put in the pot" which is a box to bring to a local food pantry.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Magic Ingredient : Sharing, June 2, 2005

By 

AMGrumm (Suburbia, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone Soup (Paperback)

Two travellers come to a village and work their magic. Includes recipe.
You must play the music, written and performed by the author herself !!!! The kids will naturally sing along. Before you realize it, you'll be a singing storyteller too.