Stone Soup, Jon J. Muth. ISBN: 043933909X
Read July 23, 2013
Picture Book: Three monks (named for the Chinese deities for
health, wealth, and prosperity) visit a town crippled and isolated by
bad fortune. They set up in the town square and begin to cook stone
soup, and the peculiar sight draws the townsfolk in to investigate and
assist. By the end of the night, a town-wide party is underway, people
are visiting and making merry, and the monks are given a fond send-off
the next morning.
I love the extra touches in this book (many of them mentioned in
the afterword). The little girl in the sun-yellow coat that first
breaks the ice, the gentle but sly expressions on the monks' faces as
they trick the townies into being nicer and happier, the omnipresent
black cat.
I also like that the monks perform shadow puppets for the townies -
I love puppetry, and having a puppet-scene illustrated is a nice touch.
Muth is the author/illustrator of the Zen Shorts set of books, and I
dearly love his illustrations. His writing is also gentle and clear,
which fits the "teaching" style of his moralistic stories.
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