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:
