Marcia Brown won a Caldecott Medal in 1947 for her version of an old French folktale, Stone Soup. This is a great story of ingenuity and cooperation.
In the story, three soldiers are returning home from the wars. They are tired and haven’t had any food for two days. They come upon a village and ask for food. But the peasants have seen them coming and have hidden everything. The peasants try to look hungry and offer up good reasons for not having any food, sick fathers, poor harvests, and grain that must be kept for seed. The soldiers announce that since there is no food they will make stone soup.
Intrigued, the peasants bring a large iron pot, fill it with water, start a fire, and collect three round smooth stones. As the soldiers stir the water and stones, they say that “any soup needs salt and pepper”. A little boy runs to bring salt and pepper. The soldiers state that the stones will make a good soup but that if there carrots it would be much better. A woman runs and brings carrots. As the soldiers slice carrots into the pot they say that “ a good stone soup should have cabbage”. So another woman brings cabbage. Then the soldiers say that if they had a bit of beef and a few potatoes the soup would be good enough for rich man’s table. The peasants are full of wonder, it seemed like magic to get a rich man’s soup from only a few stones. The soup ends up fit for a king with barley and a cup of milk. The soldiers promise everyone soup once a table is set.
Not only do the peasants set up a table, but decide that such a soup deserves a roast, and bread, and cider. Never had there been such a feast in their village. They ate and drank, and sang and danced into the night.
The illustrations are not full color, but are red, gray, black and white. The pictures are great though, there are a lot of things going on – like a child sneaking a bit of food to a dog.
Stone Soup is a great classic to share with your children. A lot of teachers use it for lessons in cooperation. There is also a French version available under the the title Une Drole de Soupe.
More Caldecott Winners:
The Snowy Day – Ezra Jack Keats
The Three Pigs – David Weisner