Books like Stone Soup

As someone who generally likes and actually much prefers lushly coloured and hued illustrations, I was not expecting to enjoy Marcia Brown's version of the European folktale of Stone Soup as much as I have. The illustrations really are wonderful (attention to detail, captured movement, realistic facial expressions), and the simple combination of white, black, grey and orange shades works surprisingly well. A more than succesful marriage of text and image and if an author's note had been included, my now four star rating would most definitely have been moved to five stars (the mere fact that Marcia Brown's Stone Soup, that this 1948 Caldecott Honour book is still in current print, that alone already speaks volumes). The illustrations notwithstanding, I am also pleasantly surprised by the story itself. The author's (Marcia Brown's) version of the the Stone Soup thematics clearly demonstrate that the peasants (the villagers) do not simply fear strangers in general, they specifically fear strangers who are soldiers. When one realises that historically, soldiers not only had the reputation of demanding and taking any type of provision they might need/want without generally much thought of the needs and requirements of civilians, but that soldiers also often had specific official written guarantees permitting them to take any available and desired provisions from the villages through which they were passing, it is somewhat understandable that the villagers are at first rather suspicious of the soldiers and keep their provisions hidden. They might not want to share, and might even be a bit xenophobic, but first and foremost, the villagers are afraid of losing most, if not all of their stored foodstuff to the soldiers (and they could obviously not know in advance that the soldiers are, in fact, friendly).In the end, the three soldiers manage to get the food they require neither by resorting to violence and threats nor do they simply search for the hidden provisions and take what they want, but rather by being able to entice the village to share what they have. The communal feast of stone soup not only celebrates sharing, it also celebrates community, friendship and the fact that one can achieve more by using one's wits. And above all, the soldiers are not only able to stay their hunger, the village is left with a much more positive impression regarding not only strangers, but soldiers in particular. I especially enjoyed the unhurried pace of Stone Soup (almost like watching a pot of soup or stew cook, no pun intended, well, perhaps slightly) and the fact that the villagers all have names, that they are not simply anonymous individuals; this personalises the narrative and allows for exposition and speculation. For example, if I were reading this story aloud to a child (or a group of children), I might engage the audience by asking who of the villagers thinks that their grain needed to be hidden (Vincent and Marie), and why they might have thought this. And while I would have also preferred (and still prefer) the three soldiers not to have been anonymous, this in no way lessened (or lessens) my enjoyment of the tale, or rather, of the Stone Soup adaptation. All in all, a much engaging (at times thought-provoking) picture book offering and vert highly recommended both for children and adults!