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"Stone Soup"

Retold and Illustrated by Jon J Muth

       
Image Source: Amazon
The purpose of the story "Stone Soup", is told on the first page when one monk asks another monk, "What makes one happy?" Three monks visit a town of untrusting villagers and attempt to make stone soup. Slowly the villagers start pitching in giving ingredients to help improve the soup. They end up making a wonderful soup and all come together to enjoy a meal where everyone brings more food to share. The monks show the villagers the importance of pitching in and helping one another.
        Muth includes an Author's Note at the end that includes the many variations of stone soup across many different countries and other related stories. They explain their choice to set it in China and how they based the monks off of deities in Chinese folklore. Muth also mentions that in Buddha story tradition there are often tricksters who "spread enlightenment rather than seeking gain for themselves." They also explain their choice of symbolism throughout based off of Chinese traditions. Based off of the appearance of the author doing their research, it would appear that the author tried to pay attention to authenticity.
        As he was also the illustrator, Muth enhanced the tale with the watercolor and ink illustrations throughout the book. The opening scene of the mountain uses greys, purple and blues to help show a vast and almost foggy view of the mountains while descending to the village. When introduced to some of the villagers they are shown on a white background and separated from each other to help show that the villagers kept to themselves and did not interact with each other. While the monks are in the city it is shown in shades of browns and greys that helps show the emptiness of the village. The little girl in yellow is the first splash of color that Muth introduces in the city environment. In the author note, Muth mentions that yellow was often reserved for royalty and while the little girl was not royal, they wanted to highlight how important she is to the story. The illustrations slowly become filled with more vivid colors as more villagers come to offer more ingredients to the soup. The use of bright vivid colors helps show the happiness that begins to spread throughout the village as they pitch in to help and provide for each other.


Muth, Jon J. Stone Soup. Illustrated by Jon J. Muth. Scholastic Press, 2003. 30 pages. Tr. $16.95, ISBN 0-439-33909-X.
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