Stone Soup

by Jon J. Muth

Book Overview

Award-winning artist Jon J Muth retells the favorite tale of a selfish community who is tricked into creating a delicious soup from stones. Set in China in Muth's hauntingly beautiful watercolors.

Three strangers, hungry and tired, pass through a war-torn village. Embittered and suspicious from the war, the people hide their food and close their windows tight. That is, until the clever strangers suggest making a soup from stones. Intrigued by...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 043933909X
• ISBN13: 9780439339094
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 10.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Wonderful variation on a classic story!

I loved the story of stone soup as a child and grew up to be an avid soup creator/sharer...my inner child is always tempted to stick a stone in my new creations for good measure. I had told this story to my 7 year old granddaughter previously because it is such a wonderful representation of what can come from collaboration and contribution to a bigger cause. I was only familiar with the North American woodland creature version of the story, so was really excited to see it in an Asian cultural version. My granddaughter is very interested in cultural studies, Asian especially, so it was a perfect match! Jon J Muth's illustrations are always charming and engaging, it's a beautiful little story to share with a child or soup maker you love. I would love to find it in hard cover.

great book

This is told differently than the version I read as a child, but it is told very nicely. The pictures are nice as well. Both my 4 year old son and my 11 year old niece love it.

I too can make Stone Soup.

Stone Soup.....what a lovely retelling of an old tale. I like that it takes the simple message of one by one sharing, gaining happiness and all sharing to gain community. I bought this book for my nephews. We very much enjoyed reading the story and examining the wonderful pictures. They very easily noticed the beautiful color progression as the story develops into something full, warm and sweet. The best part was reading all about the same foods we have at home. It is good to know that we too can make Stone Soup.

Wonderful! New Soup from an Ancient Recipe!

My two children and I loved this book. They enjoyed following the little girl and her cat and finding them on different pages. It works very well to read out loud at bedtime. The monks were sweet. I don't know how they could have scared anybody. It was nice to see these faces in this story. Some of them were very funny. I was surprised to see how well it all fit. This was a nice retelling.

Share this Book

This is a beautiful book. The illustrations are masterful, and the story is quite sweet. I would definitely share it with young children, yet the exquisitely depicted images make me want to show it to adults. The cross-cultural elements of the story are especially good for young children. To find a children's book that contains this much beauty is a treasure for any child.

I love this book!

I love this book! It has a wonderful sense of dignity and humor. I'm pleased to see Asians that look like real people and enjoyed its spirit of encouragement. I don't like spoon fed morality and this story treats the reader intelligently. This book has a special place on my shelves.