Stone Soup (Puffin Pied Piper) [Paperback]

Tony Ross (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Puffin Pied Piper

A clever hen manages to stall a hungry wolf's plans to make a meal of her by persuading him to taste her stone soup first.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As he has done with other folktales, Ross here offers his own wacky interpretation of the popular fable. In the conventional version, a stranger comes to town and persuades the locals to add various vegetables to a soup he is making, using only boiling water and a stone. In Ross's version, a clever hen persuades a Big, Bad Wolf to put off eating her until she has made him some stone soup. While she adds vegetables, the hen gets the wolf to do her household chores. He enjoys the soup so much that he forgets to eat the hen; he just makes off with the stone. Though this retelling lacks the clever moral of the usual version, Ross's marvelous illustrations make his version distinctive. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3 Ross' saucy version of Stone Soup has little to do with its predecessors beyond the stone and the soup. A big bad wolf comes upon Mother Hen hanging out her wash. He, of course, wants to eat the hen and steal her goodies, but is delayed by the clever hen's tactic of offering homemade soup as an appetizer. (Mother Hen must have read the earlier version herself.) While she sets about the lengthy process of making soup from a stone, adding ingredient after ingredient, she persuades the surprisingly agreeable wolf to do her dishes, vacuum, hang up the wash, chop wood, fix the TV antenna, and clean the chimney. Finally soup's on, and the sooty wolf eats it up. The hen offers to be eaten in turn but the wolf is too full. Suddenly he leaps up, grabs the stone, and runs away. Ross' zany, antic art in bold colors entertains with its detail and energy. The wolf's scratchy-looking jacket, the mounds of unwashed dishes, the size differences, and the hen's frantic activity are used for their fullest humor and drama. The text is lively and witty. The problem with the book lies in the confusing ending: it is unclear whether the wolf chokes on the stone, leaps up in rage, or is acting on some other impulse. An otherwise appealing book.Leda Schubert, Grand Avenue School, Uniondale, N.Y.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140547088
• ISBN-13: 978-0140547085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,095,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic retold, April 30, 2000

By 

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone Soup (Puffin Pied Piper) (Paperback)

This is a classic fable. My father used to tell it to me when I was young, and I was delighted to see it in book form. In this version, there is a fairly standard fairy-tale baddie - the wolf. In the version I knew as a child, it was a tramp, tricking a cook in a kitchen to prepare him a nourishing meal. I am sure there are other versions out there!

This one is nicely illustrated with bright, lively pictures. Although not a "favourite" book, it has found its place in the bedtime story repertoire.