Traditional Genre: Stone Soup

BOOK ENTRY FORMAT FOR GENRE PROJECT


Information for students
Author: Jon J Muth Title: Stone Soup
Book Genre: Traditional Publishing Info: Scholastic Press, 32 pp.

Summary: Three travelers come along a village where they hope to be offered food and shelter. To their surprise, the village people stay in their homes and offer no kindness to the travelers. So the three travelers decide to make stone soup. Curiosity gets the better of the village people and they come out of their homes to see what the travelers are making. Soon everyone is pitching an ingredient to use in the soup. The village works together to make a soup fit for a king.

Personal rating: ****

Rationale: This book had an elaborate plot with believable characters. I liked the way that the outsiders brought the village together in a clever way. It is a good example of teamwork and cooperation.

Information for teachers
Reading level: 2.1 Interest level: K - 5th

Thematic Areas: cleverness, creativity, imagination, sharing, teamwork

Content Areas: social studies, cultures

Potential Problems or Difficulties: none

Possible use in classroom: Have each student bring in their favorite recipe to share with the class. Make a recipe book with the class’ recipes to send home with the students at the end of the unit. Talk about different units you use to measure (cups, tbsp, tsp, etc.) and practice converting them. This is a good opportunity to study vegetables. Find or have students draw pictures of all the vegetables in the story (you can add some when you tell the story, too!) and sort them according to the part of the plant they represent: carrots are roots, cabbages are leaves, etc. Cut pictures from magazines and use them to make charts. Learn and practice table manners and learn how to properly eat soup.
Learn about the food pyramid.