Stone Soup (Aladdin Picture Books)

What a wonderful story showing how sharing what one has - even if very little can benefit so many. Illustrates how clever thinking can encourage cooperative behavior in a positive way. A favorite of my grand kids!

This book is good for older kids with greater attention spans. I read it to my two year old and I don't think he's quite ready for this much reading. I still love the story and am keeping it saved for later.

Wonderful illustrations, wonderful story. These hungry soldiers come into town hoping the villagers will help feed them, but everyone's busy guarding their food and keeping it for themselves. So the soldiers trick the villagers into contributing to "stone soup"--and all they do is bring the idea. Once everyone's invested in contributing a little something, everyone gets to enjoy the result. I liked that the soldiers didn't have to shame the villagers into helping them and also didn't go hungry; they just came up with the ideas and the villagers were suddenly amiable, intrigued by this "stone soup" idea.

At my nursery school when I was a child, we read this book and enjoyed it so much that we decided to make our own stone soup in class. I remember the teacher bringing in the stones and assuring us that they were clean. I don't remember how we actually made soup, though; we each had to bring something just like in the story, but it's hard to figure out how we could have actually made soup in the classroom. Maybe we did and I just don't remember.

Stone Soup is an old, lively story about three soldiers who come across a peasant village looking for some food and a place to sleep. But, the peasants are none too friendly and try their best to hide their food and make excuses of how not to help them. The soldiers have the idea of making stone soup, and soon the whole village is involved and having fun. Before they know it, everyone is sharing food and a huge feast is served, plus the soldiers get a good night's rest. Children will love this exciting book full of laughter and fun.

The best aspect of this book for the younger reader is the fact that they will be able to easily follow along with the story and even predict what will happen next. This will enable them to even retell the story over and over to others, giving them good practice to becoming a seasoned reader. This is also important because children need to have positive experiences being a part of a reading community. They will love sharing stories they know with others and having others share stories with them.

The illustrations in the book are simple, but yet delightful. They only use a few colors and are not incredibly detailed, but children will love watching the story play out before their eyes. They will be able to look at the pictures and describe what the characters are doing, and even predict what they will do next. The emotions that the soldiers and the villagers are experiencing can easily be seen through the pictures, and children will love seeing such distinct expressions on their faces.

Overall, this is a book that has no doubt been handed down over many generations, and children of today will still love and enjoy hearing and reading it. It is a delightful narrative that will provoke a love for a good story.

The story is about three soldiers who are hungry and very tired and are looking for a place to stay.
Then, they come across a village one day. The people of the village have plenty of food and places to say, but they don't want the soldiers staying there so the people of the village hide there food and say their beds are all full. Well, that same day, the soldiers get an idea. Why! stone soup of course!
The message that this book sends is that even though you think that some people are bad, you should always try to see whats on the inside of them, not the outside. I think this book is fit for five to eight years of age.
I recomend this book to any child who has a judjment problem, and even to adults who want to show their children a lesson.

"Stone Soup" is a favorite folktale in our elementary school library. I just had a class of second graders beg me to read this Caldecott Honor book to them, and--of course--all our copies were immediately checked out.
I'm continually surprised--but pleased--that modern kids still enjoy these older illustrations by Marcia Brown, with their limited colors (see cover). This tale is a true classic, and this version has been around for many generations. It's part of the folk tradition in more ways than one. Let's hope we keep "sharing" this tale about sharing for generations to come!

I remember several stories that I loved very much as a child. One of them is the story of "Stone Soup". I saw it on the Captain Kangaroo television show--- the Captain read the story and the illustrations were shown page by page. I was delighted and spellbound. Everyone knows that you don't give anything away. To do so would be very foolish. Yet, in this story the people do give food away! And in the end, everyone shares in a feast because each one provided one small part of the meal. This is very moving to me. And a lesson that shapes my life every day. Thank you Marcia Brown for your retelling of this timeless tale, and to Bob Keeshan, the Captain, for bringing me this joyful tale. Larry Host, Sacramento, California, July 22, 2006

So originally I purchased this book for myself more than for my son. Heck if I am going to read I should get a few books that I will enjoy reading over and over, right? Well, unexpectedly my 4 year old son actually enjoys this book as well, and he asks me to read it all on his own. I highly recommend it and it kind of brings up a topic that I think can be hard to bring up with children this age, that sometimes you need to tell someone what it is you need and its ok to ask for help. It also goes over a creative way to ask for help....I really love this story.

The soldiers are the main people in the story.They wanted food)but the villagrs hid there food.so the soldiers made stone soup.Then the villagrs got out there food and helped them.I liked this book because i like the part when the soldiers made stone soup. THE END

This children's book, based on an old French folk tale, is about three soldiers who try to convince a small village to provide them with some food. The villagers say they are too poor and can't. The soldiers then reply that they will make stone soup out of stones and water and are able to trick the villagers into having a village-wide feast. Yeats had a one-act play roughly based on this folk tale as well. The book was a 1948 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustration in a book for children.