Sunday, November 14, 2010

Stone Soup



Stone Soup
Marcia Brown

Synopsis:
3 soldiers are on their way back from the war. While traveling through an unfamiliar land the soldiers become hungry and tired. As was custom, the townspeople would offer their food and homes to make the soldiers comfortable. When no food is readily available the soldiers lead the community as they make stone soup. Where there was once little food, no a boils a full pot of hardy soup.

Response:
This is an interesting book for a couple of reasons 1) it is a great call to the community and 2) the soldiers can be seen as swindlers. Here are a community of people struggling to feed themselves and along come three soldiers who make soup in which all the people contribute.

Is this the intent of the text, by no means do I think so, but it is a great way to look at the text. The story on the surface seems well-intentioned, however, the soldiers knew the people were poor and still they persisted.

On the flip side, one could argue that they put there meager scraps together and made a delicious soup that fed the entire village, and our hungry travelers. In a way the soldiers did a good deed.

Activity:
Compare the soldiers and Anthony (from Strega Nona). Have the kids debate. Was Anthony just trying to impress everyone? Were the soldiers merely filling their bellies? Let the students decide, but offer them chances to take both sides of the debate.

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