Stone Soup

 



         Stone Soup, written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Antara Majumder is a short story about a traveler that stumbles in to a small town that needs to learn the value of sharing. In the beginning the traveler convinces the town that he has a magic stone that can make amazing soup. The townspeople go with idea that his stone is magical; however, whenever he makes a suggestion to improve the soup each individual in the town is willing to help. For example, he made a comment that chicken would make the soup taste better, so one of the townsmen ran home to get some chicken. By the end of the story everyone contributed to the soup and realized that sharing goes a long way.

         The book, Stone Soup would be classified in the folklore genre. This specific book represents values and beliefs of individuals from years ago. The value of sharing and caring for thy neighbor are extremely important. The illustrator does an a amazing job of incorporating authentic cultural illustrations. Her illustrations also complement the narrator.

 



         This book can be very useful in the beginning of the school year when teaches students about sharing and caring for each other. After reading the story I would ask my students the following questions:

• What does the word value mean to you?
• What value did you learn from this book?
• Give me an another example of how the townspeople could have helped one another?

         A motivational activity I would hold in my class is "A present for the main Character." The students would have to decipher who the main character is and create a special gift for him/her. I would then have them create a short paragraph explaining why they chose that specific gift. Another activity I would have my students do is create an alternative ending to the story. I would have the students brainstorm on different outcomes in small groups, then individually have them create their own alternate ending.

 

        I recalled reading this book as a child and remembered the value of sharing that it taught me. The author Miranda Paul is a mother of two, teacher and travels the world. She gets most of her inspiration from those things. She has gained influence from fellow authors Shel Silverstein and Lois Lowry. She has created other books like:

• Water is Water
• One Plastic Bag 

   References









 

Paul, Miranda. (2012). Stone Soup. Amazon Publishing.

 

Galda, C. &. (2011). Literature and the Child Seventh Edition . Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing .