Stone Soup

Brown, M. (1947). Stone soup. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Age Level: 6-9

Genre:  Traditional Literature/Folktale/Picture Book

When I saw this book on a common planning document, I decided that I should read it for my blog post.    

This folktale is about a group of men traveling during a time of war.   When they come up on a village, they must use their keenness to find a place to stay and a meal.   The villagers are not opening their doors or cupboards to the men so they devise a plan to trick the villages into feeding them. 

This story is considered a traditional story because it has an easily understood plot, common theme, characters and setting.  It also has a ‘happy ending.’   I would recommend this text to both colleagues and students as I feel that it is an entertaining tale.  I plan to use it very soon for a unit on folktales. 

Ideas for teaching/comprehension strategies that can be used with this text:  This story would be great to use with introducing conflict because this text has a person-against-person conflict since the villagers are reluctant to help the men.  I also think the text is great for introducing folktales.  I also think this would be great for identifying theme or lesson in a story.  Cleverness is a clearly communicated theme, as the men had to find a way to be fed. 

Questions to pose:

What type of story is this?  Explain how you know.

What lesson do you learn when reading this text?

Can you make a connection with this story?  Explain.

How would you describe the villagers?  Give details from the text.

Additional Resources:

http://www.artsonstage.org/guides/StoneSoup.pdf

http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/stonesoup.html

The true story of the three little pigs

Scieszka, J. (1989). The true story of the three little pigs. New York. Penguin Books.

 
Age Level: 5-10

Genre: Picture Book, Comedy and Humor, Folktale

This story is hilarious!  I had never thought about the Wolf’s view of the happenings in The Three Little Pigs, that is, until now.  This story depicts Alexander Wolf’s view of how things really happened.  Throughout this book the Wolf tells his journey of trying to make his grandmother a cake for her birthday.  When he goes to get some sugar from a neighbor, the story gets interesting. 

Many aspects of this text remain the same as the classic story many of us know.  The setting and plot are very similar but the point of view of the story is different.  Read this story to see who you believe.              

The illustrations are great and really create an interesting mood.  They do a great job of depicting the story as A. Wolf sees it.   I would absolutely recommend this book because it is a new look into a classic tale and it would be great for perspective!  I already plan to use it (along with several colleagues) for an upcoming unit on point of view. 

Relevancy with children can be built around discussing several different points of view (perspecitve ehich the story is told) in a given experience.  I look forward to being able to discuss how in a given experience, there can be many different perspectives/points of view. 

Ideas for teaching/comprehension strategies that can be used with this text:  I would love to use the text to compare and contrast two similar texts.  I would use the class version and discuss how the perspectives are different in each test but that many aspects remain the same in both (setting and plot).  This book could also be used to discuss story elements and the illustrations would be great to discuss mood in a text.  I would also like to use this book for character development.  This story really does a great job developing the character of A. Wolf throughout the story.

Questions to pose:

Do you think A. Wolf is guilty or not guilty? Explain your thinking.

What support did A. Wolf provide that he wasn’t guilty?  Did he do a good job presenting his case?

How does this story compare to the traditional story?