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(More customer reviews)Stone Soup is a popular folktale in many countries that has been told for centuries. The Author Heater Forest tells a contemporary version of the popular folktale. Her Stone Soup is an imaginatively creative story with colorfully descriptive pictures that bring the plot about sharing to life. The author's writing is so clear and vivid that reader's can see the characters even before looking at the pictures. The illustrations are realistically drawn and help kids follow along with the story. The author uses the illustrations to teach kids a lesson about sharing. In Stone Soup, two hungry travelers stumble into a village. The travelers go door to door asking for food. Because the villagers say there is no food, the travelers decide to help them by making their magical soup. In the process of making the soup, the village learnes that if everyone shares good things can come out of it. The language and concept is simple for kids. When the traveler talks to the villagers, he uses simple words. "Please ," said one of the travelers, "we are hungry. Do you care? Will you share? Do you have any food?" These simple sentences express many ideas about sharing. "Do you care?" says that if a person doesn't share it's because they don't care. "Do you have any food?" says that if a person has food they should share it. Stone Soup isn't just good reading that is imaginative and creative; it also tells a moral, which teaches kids a lesson but doesn't preach to them. The moral, that if everyone shares then the outcome is huge, comes across clearly in this imaginative story. The travelers said the magic ingredient to their stone soup is sharing; every contribution counts from the smallest to the largest when people share. This is a idea kids can use in their lives. The author tells a well-written story that, even without pictures, could put the characters vividly in one's mind. The author makes a vivid picture of the travelers hopelessness in the reader's mind: "...travelers came along. Their coats were tattered. Their hats were torn. Their dusty shoes had holes in their soles." Using these descriptive words helps everyone enjoy this story. Susan Gaber illustrated this book. She made the pictures so detailed that a person can see the hair on a man's beard and the buttons on a kid's top, but not so much detail that it takes away from the story. The pictures are realistically drawn and colored. There are no purple trees or orange-haired people. This adds to the realistic plot of the story. Gaber does a great job drawing difficult items, for example: a kernel of corn and a green bean. The colors that are used are bright. When characters talk there is a picture of the main topic in the bubble of what the person is saying. An example of this is when a man says he has a potato and the picture shows a bubble with a potato in it. This helps kids follow the story. From start to finish, Stone Soup is a page-turner, with colorfully detailed pictures to its descriptive wording, which bring alive the imaginative story. Stone Soup is well-written for its age group, using word and concepts kids will understand, while at the same time teaching them a moral and new ideas about sharing. This is definitely one book to check out. -Michele Jicha
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