Stone Soup

by Jon J Muth, Jon J Muth (Illustrator)

Overview

Award-winning artist and author Jon J Muth retells the favorite tale of a selfish community who is tricked into creating a delicious soup from stones.

NARRATOR: B.D. Wong

FORMAT: Paperback Book & CD

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 the idea, everyone brings what they have until— together, they have made a feast fit for a king!

In this inspiring story about people working together, Muth takes a simple, beloved tale and adds his own fresh twist with beautiful illustrations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545353946
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Pages:	1
Sales rank:	672,889
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jon J Muth is beloved all over the world for his seven books featuring Stillwater the Panda, whose love and balanced approach to life always serve to make the world a better place for his young friends. Muth’s many enchanting picture books include his Caldecott Honor Book Zen Shorts, Addy’s Cup of Sugar, Stone Soup, and The Three Questions, which the New York Times Book Review called "quietly life-changing." His books have been translated into more than 23 languages and are cherished by readers of all ages. Muth draws inspiration from his life-long interest in Asian Studies, including tai chi chuan, sumi ink drawing, and chado, "the way of tea." Muth is also renowned in the world of graphic novels. He won an Eisner Award for his paintings in the graphic novel, The Mystery Play by Grant Morrison. He’s partnered with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman: The Wake, Walter and Louise Simonson, and Kent Williams on Havoc & Wolverine: Meltdown, J. M. DeMatteis on Moonshadow and Silver Surfer, and with Stanislaw Lem on The Seventh Voyage which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Adaptation in Another Medium. He lives in New York State with his wife and their four children.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
In a Far Eastern twist on the classic tale, the author of The Three Questions has a group of wandering monks teaching a village about happiness, giving, and trust. Through gentle watercolors that evoke feelings of Asian artwork and Zen-like serenity, Jon J. Muth brilliantly captures the peace these monks bring as they enter a town and realize that the distrustful, suspecting townsfolk need a "stone soup" lesson. Beginning with a little girl wearing yellow -- a bright splash of color against the village's stark gray and white hues -- curious villagers slowly come forward to add special ingredients to the soup and to add more color to the scene. Of course, at the story's familiar end, they all have found their connection, but now the town is cheerfully aglow with red lanterns, happy festivities, and thankful farewells. A beautiful message for young readers and a great jump-start to discussions about folktales or Asian culture (especially with the Author's Note in back), this stunning picture book will have audiences in pure nirvana. Matt Warner

With the same aesthetic grace he displayed with Tolstoy's The Three Questions, Muth here transports a classic tale to rural China. The setting not only allows his evocative, impressionistic watercolors to play over mist and mountains but also affords an opportunity for Buddhist underpinnings. Three monks of varying ages stop at a village where hard times have made people suspicious; in Muth's full-bleed spreads, even the houses appear to look down with disdain. Famine and other hardships have bleached the faces and hearts of the villagers; the tea merchant, the seamstress and the carpenter whose closet bulges with hoarded vegetables all appear caught in Muth's vignettes as if by a photographer's flash. Only a little girl, her cheerful yellow coat a beacon in the gray landscape, approaches them. She helps them find three smooth stones-shown in a close-up, piled and teetering in the harsh winter light (an endnote explains that they form the shape of the sitting Buddha). Soon, the pure hearts of the monks move the other villagers to generosity, and cloud ear, mung beans, ginger root and more join the stones in the pot. In the endnote, Muth invites readers to find the Chinese symbols embedded in the art and explains that in the Buddhist story tradition he borrows from, tricksters "spread enlightenment rather than seeking gain for themselves." And while the tale of "Stone Soup" can be told to make fools of the villagers, here it becomes an offering as generous as Muth's villagers turn out to be. Ages 6-up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1-3-Muth has taken this old tale and transplanted it from its traditional European setting to China. The tricksters are no longer hungry travelers or soldiers but Buddhist monks. Their goal in fooling the villagers is not to fill their own stomachs but rather to enlighten them about the happiness that comes from sharing. Muth's characteristic watercolor illustrations, with their striking use of misty hues contrasted with bright primaries, are expertly done and convey a distinct sense of place. In his author's note, the reteller details the elements of Chinese folklore that he incorporated into the story as well as the symbols from Eastern culture used in the artwork. However, Muth's decision to alter the motivation of the tricksters also depresses some of the humor in the story and gives it a moralistic tone. In addition, the likelihood that these initially suspicious and reclusive villagers would become truly happy people as a result of their own gullibility is slim. This is a beautifully executed book with a flawed story line.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Muth transports a classic European trickster tale to China and turns it into an explicit, formalized philosophical lesson. To answer the question, "What makes one happy?" three wandering monks, Hok, Lok, and Siew, tease hostile residents of a town into providing both pot and ingredients for a savory soup, then sitting down to a communal feast. The next day, the villagers gratefully bid the monks goodbye: "With the gifts you have given we will always have plenty. You have shown us that sharing makes us all richer." In contrast to the stiffly wooden text, the art poses graceful, traditionally dressed figures with expressive, delicately drawn faces against flowing backgrounds of mountain mists and cool colors. In a long afterword, Muth discusses the tale's meaning and antecedents, as well as Zen and the Chinese symbols and motifs he has incorporated into it. Despite atmospheric art and touches of gentle humor, this follow-up to his recent retelling of Tolstoy's Three Questions (2002) comes off as somewhat portentous and overwritten. (Picture book/folktale. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews

"Delicious and satisfying." — The Horn Book* "With the same aesthetic grace he displayed with Tolstoy's The Three Questions, Muth here transports a classic tale to rural China. The setting not only allows his evocative, impressionistic watercolors to play over mist and mountains but also affords an opportunity for Buddhist underpinnings. ... And while the tale of "Stone Soup" can be told to make fools of the villagers, here it becomes an offering as generous as Muth's villagers turn out to be. — Publishers Weekly, starred review


"[Muth's] His respect for Chinese people and their culture makes this serving of fusion cuisine delicious and satisfying" -Horn Book


"Muth's characteristic watercolor illustrations. . . are expertly done and convey a distinct sense of place." -School Library Journal

From the Publisher

When three traveling monks pondering the question of happiness enter a village, only one curious girl comes out of her home to interact with them. Eventually, curiosity about how to make soup from three stones brings more delectable items to the pot and harmony to the village. Narrator BD Wong is as mellow and rich as the soup! His resonant voice gives gentle authority to each monk. His leisurely pacing leaves time for contemplation and for the peeking villagers to open their doors and hearts as they offer additional ingredients to the original “recipe.” To conclude the recording, the author details the story’s odyssey from Europe to China and his personal odyssey as an artist. A.R. 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2011 - AudioFile