''The Real Story of Stone Soup'' is a picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by

Stéphane Jorisch Stéphane Jorisch is a Canadian artist and illustrator. He is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award for French-language children's illustration(once in 1993 for ''Le Monde selon Jean de ...'' and in 1999 for ''Charlotte et l'île du des ...

. The

stone soup Stone Soup is a European folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys, and exists as a moral regarding the value of sharing. In varyin ...

folk story is often associated with European folklore, but Compestine retells it set in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Plot summary

The three Chang brothers are constantly overworked by a mean, old fisherman. One day the fisherman scolds the boys for forgetting to prepare his lunch. The boys gather fish and other ingredients to make a delicious soup, then decide to trick the fisherman by digging a hole, filling it with water, and tossing in rocks. They then convince the fisherman that this is how they prepared the soup using special "flavored rocks", astonishing the gullible fisherman. The narrator insists that this is the "real" stone soup story. The book concludes with an author's note and a recipe for "Chang Brother's Egg Drop Stone Soup".

Character list

* "Uncle" - Old Fisherman that the Chang boys refer to as "Uncle" * Ting Chang - The eldest brother who works on Uncle’s boat * Pong Chang - The middle brother who works on Uncle’s boat * Kuai Chang - The youngest brother who works on Uncle’s boat

Reception

''The Real Story of Stone Soup'' has been featured in the '' School Library Journal'', '' Booklist'', ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'', and the Junior Library Guild. In ''School Libraries Worldwide'', Sue Kimmel, a librarian, discusses how the book can be used to teach

critical thinking Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased analysis ...

and science concepts. The '' Chicago Sun-Times'' writes that the story is "deftly written with delicious tongue-in-cheek humor." The illustrations by Stephanie Jorisch are done in gouache and ink and are "expressive," according to '' Booklist''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Story of Stone Soup, The 2007 children's books American picture books Picture books based on fairy tales Children's books set in China Children's fiction books Picture books by Ying Chang Compestine