Genre: Traditional
Age Level: 4-8
Summary: Stone Soup is a Caldecott Honor Book. This book is based on an old French tale from many years ago during war time. It has been passed along from generation to generation and country to country, where we received this version of a wonderful story. Even though the story has changed in some ways, the main theme of the story has held true.
Stone Soup is actually a story about three soldiers who have gone days without eating. They want desperately to find food, but not one person whom they come in contact with will give them even a morsel to help take away their hunger. The soldiers know that the people of the village are lying to them and find a clever way to get them to feed them. The soldiers tell them that they will just have to make "stone soup". During this time, the people of the village are intrigued by the soldiers use of just small stones to make something wonderful to eat. All of a sudden, there is a huge pot of stone soup for everyone to share. How and when did that pot of stone soup become available?
Reflection: I had actually heard this story before, but had never read the book or seen the wonderful way the illustrations depict the story. The arrangement of elements in the picture share this story in a clever way. The colors of gray, black, white, and red are seen on every page, and nothing else. This is also reflected on the cover of the book as well. I think these illustrations added to the understanding of how selfish people can be, and how often we are tricked into doing things by others when we are trying to be that selfish person.
I think that my students would like this book very much. I also think they would automatically ask if we could make stone soup in our classroom. It would be a great experience to teach the students how to follow a recipe that is drawn out through the pages of a book. Then, it would be even better if they were able to share the outcome of their recipe with others.
Big Questions: What is stone soup? Have you ever eaten stone soup before? Would you be willing to share your food with people who didn't have anything to eat? How might our class be able to help people in need?
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