Stone Soup - Softcover

PreSchool-Grade 3 Ross' saucy version of Stone Soup has little to do with its predecessors beyond the stone and the soup. A big bad wolf comes upon Mother Hen hanging out her wash. He, of course, wants to eat the hen and steal her goodies, but is delayed by the clever hen's tactic of offering homemade soup as an appetizer. (Mother Hen must have read the earlier version herself.) While she sets about the lengthy process of making soup from a stone, adding ingredient after ingredient, she persuades the surprisingly agreeable wolf to do her dishes, vacuum, hang up the wash, chop wood, fix the TV antenna, and clean the chimney. Finally soup's on, and the sooty wolf eats it up. The hen offers to be eaten in turn but the wolf is too full. Suddenly he leaps up, grabs the stone, and runs away. Ross' zany, antic art in bold colors entertains with its detail and energy. The wolf's scratchy-looking jacket, the mounds of unwashed dishes, the size differences, and the hen's frantic activity are used for their fullest humor and drama. The text is lively and witty. The problem with the book lies in the confusing ending: it is unclear whether the wolf chokes on the stone, leaps up in rage, or is acting on some other impulse. An otherwise appealing book.Leda Schubert, Grand Avenue School, Uniondale, N.Y.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As he has done with other folktales, Ross here offers his own wacky interpretation of the popular fable. In the conventional version, a stranger comes to town and persuades the locals to add various vegetables to a soup he is making, using only boiling water and a stone. In Ross's version, a clever hen persuades a Big, Bad Wolf to put off eating her until she has made him some stone soup. While she adds vegetables, the hen gets the wolf to do her household chores. He enjoys the soup so much that he forgets to eat the hen; he just makes off with the stone. Though this retelling lacks the clever moral of the usual version, Ross's marvelous illustrations make his version distinctive. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.