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Stone Soup

Stone Soup retold by Marilyn Sapienza, illustrations by Hans Wilhelm, 1986.

This is a retelling of a traditional folktale, sometimes called Stone Soup and sometimes Button Soup (and other names). The basic story is the same, but sometimes, it uses a stone and sometimes a button. All of the characters in this particular version of the story are represented by animals. Some of the pictures are in color, and some are black-and-white.

Max and Molly are backpacking across country, and they are getting tired and hungry when they spot a village. Hoping to get something to eat there, they decide to approach the villagers and ask for food.

However, the villagers are not friendly, and the last thing they want is to share their food or anything else with strangers. As soon as they see Max and Molly coming, they quickly hide their food and anything else the travelers might want them to share. (I’m not sure why the innkeeper closes his hotel as soon as he sees potential customers coming. You can’t stay in the hospitality industry very long like that.)

When Molly and Max get into town, all of the villagers pretend like they’re starving and refuse to help Molly and Max. However, they see through the villagers’ act and come up with a plan of their own.

They ring the village bell to call of the people in the village. At first, the villagers are irritated because the bell is only for use in emergencies, but Molly and Max say that having no food is an emergency and that they have a plan to solve it. They are going to teach the villagers to make Stone Soup.

The villagers say that they’ve never heard of Stone Soup, and Molly says that it’s a secret recipe that she’s willing to share. It starts with a pot of hot water and some stones. Molly makes a show of tasting the “soup” and says that it’s good, but it’s even better if you make “the fancy kind.”

When the villagers ask how to make the fancy kind, she asks for some salt, pepper, and herbs. After the mayor’s wife supplies those, Molly asks for some carrots and onions. When she says that she supposes that they’ll have to do without them, the farmer’s wife steps up and offers some.

Little by little, Molly and Max coax the villagers into supplying other ingredients, almost without realizing what they’re doing. In the end, the Mayor of the village says that it’s the best soup he’s ever tasted, and it’s amazing, considering that it was only made with stones and water.

The moral of the story is that everyone benefits when people are wiling to share. Everyone gets a share of the soup, but when they start serving it, the villagers also provide other food to eat alongside it, and they all have a feast. The innkeeper gives Molly and Max a room for the night, and when they leave in the morning, they remind the villagers to “Share Stone Soup with everyone.”

In the back of the book, there is the complete recipe for Stone Soup, with rhyming steps. It doesn’t have details, like amounts and cooking times and temperatures, but I suppose someone could use these general guidelines to make an improvised soup. Really, I think the meat should be precooked if you’re adding it as a final ingredient. Otherwise, the veggies would be overdone before the meat is fully cooked.

There are many different versions of this story that have been made into picture books. I haven’t been able to find a copy of this particular book available to read online, but you can find various versions other versions of the same story online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery of King Karfu

The Mystery of King Karfu by Doug Cushman, 1996.

Seymour Sleuth, an Australian wombat living in London, introduces himself as “the greatest detective in the world.”  His friend, Abbott Muggs, a mouse, is a photographer who assists him in his cases and documents them.  When the story begins, Seymour receives a telegram from his friend Professor Slagbottom, who is working on an archaeological site in Egypt.  Someone has stolen one of their finds, the Stone Chicken of King Karfu, and he needs Seymour’s help to find it!  Seymour and Muggs head for Egypt!

King Karfu was a wealthy pharaoh and a wonderful cook, and the Stone Chicken may provide clues about the Lost Treasure of King Karfu, the nature of which is unknown.  When they reach the dig in Egypt, Professor Slagbottom explains that he was researching a message in code on the outside of the Chicken when it was stolen.  The suspects are the other people on the dig, who may be trying to steal King Karfu’s Treasure.

Seymour interviews the suspects one at a time and considers their connection to clues found at the scene of the crime.  As an adult, I figured out who the culprit was pretty quickly, but for the benefit of child readers, Seymour provides notes about the clues and suspects to help them understand the connections. The pictures in the story also provide important clues.  After Professor Slagbottom’s decoder is stolen, Seymour realizes who the thief is.

After they get the Stone Chicken back, readers can use the decoder provided to solve the code and learn where the Treasure is.  It turns out that the Treasure is actually a recipe, written in the same substitution code – for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

I always like mysteries that involve codes and puzzles, and this cute animal mystery would be fun and challenging for young kids.  With the key provided, it would be a good introduction to substitution codes for kids who have never seen them.  There is one other book with Seymour Sleuth, The Mystery of the Monkey’s Maze.  The author, Doug Cushman, is also the author of the Aunt Eater Mysteries.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Cranberry Halloween

CranberryHalloween

Cranberry Halloween by Wende and Harry Devlin, 1982.

The citizens of Cranberryport need to raise money to build a new dock after theirs was destroyed in a storm. Almost everyone in town volunteers to help, and Mr. Whiskers volunteers to keep the money they raise in his grandfather’s old moneybox.

CranberryHalloweenRaisingMoney

Mr. Grape, a rather cranky old man, not only refuses to donate money to the cause but he insists that it is a mistake to trust Mr. Whiskers with the money because he is a sloppy and careless person. However, Maggie’s grandmother speaks up for Mr. Whiskers, and he gets the job of treasurer for the fund.

CranberryHalloweenSpookyHouse

On Halloween night, Mr. Whiskers and young Maggie make their way to the town party, where Mr. Whiskers will present the money for the dock at the town hall.  As they pass by the spooky old house where Mr. Whiskers’s aunt used to live, two men in pirate costumes try to steal the money from them.

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Mr. Whiskers and Maggie hide in the spooky old house, but the pirates are still waiting for them outside. What are they going to do?

CranberryHalloweenTrapped

Mr. Whiskers uses his memories of the old house to find a way out, and it isn’t long before they uncover the villain who put the pirates up to the attempted theft.

The book includes a recipe for Cranberry Dessert in the back.

CranberryHalloweenRecipe

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Cranberry Christmas

CranberryChristmas

Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin, 1976.

Mr. Whiskers normally enjoys Christmas, but this year, he has problems.  To begin with, he can’t go skating on the pond near his house with the children of Cranberryport because his disagreeable neighbor, Cyrus Grape, claims that the pond is actually on his property, not Mr. Whiskers’, and has forbidden the children to set foot on it.  Mr. Whiskers is sure that he’s wrong, but he’s having trouble finding the paperwork to prove that the pond actually belongs to him.

Then, Mr. Whiskers’s sister, Sarah, is coming for Christmas.  She believes that Mr. Whiskers doesn’t take proper care of himself or his house, and she is trying to persuade him to come and live with her.  Mr. Whiskers doesn’t want to do that because he likes his independence.

To help impress Mr. Whiskers’ sister, Maggie and her grandmother help him to fix up his house for Christmas.  In the process, they discover something that helps to settle the question of who really owns the pond.

My favorite part was when Maggie and Mr. Whiskers made Christmas ornaments out of Mr. Whiskers’s seashell collection, which he had been keeping in his bathtub.

In the back of the book, there is a recipe for the cranberry cookies that Maggie makes.  The book is part of a series.

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Old Black Witch

OldBlackWitch

Old Black Witch by Wende and Harry Devlin, 1963.

OldWitchChimneyA boy called Nicky and his mother are looking for a new place to live somewhere in New England.  The mother wants to buy an old cottage with the idea of turning it into a tea room.  At first, they have trouble finding a place, but finally they buy an old house that badly needs fixing up, not knowing that there is an old witch living there.

The witch (whom they call Old Black Witch, since she’s dressed all in black and sooty and doesn’t seem to have any other name) has been sleeping in the chimney of the house for about a hundred years, and they wake her the first time they try to start a fire in the fireplace.

The witch is furious to discover that the house has new owners and worried about where she’s going to live because she needs an old house to haunt.  Nicky and his mother invite her to stay and live in the attic, which has enough dust and cobwebs to satisfy her tastes, while they clean up the lower part of the house for the tearoom.

The locals have heard stories about the house being haunted, but the nice tearoom soon becomes popular with ladies in the area, especially after Old Black Witch decides to help out Nicky’s mother in the kitchen.  Old Black Witch’s blueberry pancakes are wonderful and win many fans for the tearoom.

Then, one night, a couple of burglars break in.  Since Old Black Witch is kind of evil herself, she can’t really fault them for wanting to rob the place . . . until she suddenly realizes that they’re stealing from her, too, and uses her magic to fix the burglars for good and give herself the pet toads that she’s been wanting.

This book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

OldWitchToads

My Reaction

One of the things that I like about this story, which was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, is that Old Black Witch isn’t particularly evil although she isn’t too nice, either.  She’s as bad and disagreeable as a cranky old witch who’s lived in a chimney for over 100 years ought to be, but not so bad that she can’t make some new friends and help them out once in a while.  Friendly enough for the kids, but not too sweet to be a real witch.  It’s part of a short series, although I haven’t managed to find any of the other books yet.  Some of the pictures are in full color and some are in black and white.  Don’t ask me why she has a spoon in her hat because I’ve never been completely sure, either.  Somehow, on her, it looks good.

The back cover of the book has the recipe for the blueberry pancakes.

OldWitchPancakeRecipe

There was a short film version of this story from 1969 called Winter of the Witch.  It follows the book fairly well, but with some variations (there were no burglars).  In the film, the pancakes have the power to make people happy, and that’s what gives Nicky’s mother the inspiration to open a pancake parlor in their house.  The witch finds a new sense of purpose, although she still plans on going back to her old, wicked ways once the world is happy enough to need a good, old-fashioned scare.  I don’t think that it was ever released on dvd, but it is possible to see it on YouTube and Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Thunder Cake

ThunderCake

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, 1990.

A girl talks about how her grandmother, who she likes to call “Babushka” because she originally came from Russia, cured her of her fear of storms by teaching her to make a special kind of cake, Thunder Cake.

The girl is staying with her grandmother on her farm in Michigan during the summer, and the sound of thunder terrifies the girl so much that she just wants to hide under the bed.  However, her grandmother insists that the girl come out and help her gather the ingredients for her Thunder Cake.

ThunderCakeGrandma

The grandmother explains to the girl how to tell how far away a storm is by counting the seconds between when she sees a flash of lightning and when she hears the sound of thunder.  She also says that they need to get the cake ready by the time the storm actually arrives, so they’d better hurry.

ThunderCakeIngredients

Keeping track of how close the storm is and getting all the ingredients together to make the cake helps to keep the girl busy, and by the time the storm actually arrives, she is no longer afraid.

ThunderCakeFinished

The pictures are an interesting combination of pencil drawings and bright colors.  The faces and hands of the girl and her grandmother are completely in pencil, but their clothes and everything around them are painted.

I didn’t include the recipe for Thunder Cake here because the book is still in print, and I have kind of a rule that I don’t include recipes from books that are still in print.  However, this recipe is one of the more well-known ones from children’s literature, and it’s pretty widely available on the Internet, some with pictures of the cakes people made from this recipe.  For example, this blog has a nice article about this book with helpful notes for those who want to try to make the cake.  This site also has the recipe along with some comments from others who tried it.  I was surprised the first time I read it that one of the ingredients in the chocolate cake was tomatoes, but the consensus seems to be that they are really necessary to make this cake properly.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 3 Comments

Christmas Around the World

christmasworldChristmas Around the World by Emily Kelley, 1986.

This is a non-fiction book that describes Christmas customs from various countries around the world.  There is some history and folklore associated with different Christmas traditions in every country.  The main countries described are Mexico, Iran, China, Sweden, Iraq, Spain, and Norway, although there is a section in the back that briefly mentions a few other countries.

In some countries, children leave out their shoes instead of their stockings in the hopes of receiving small presents in them.  Sometimes, the gifts are from Santa, and sometimes, they’re from someone else, like the Wise Men.  In other countries, people do not give gifts on Christmas, except maybe new clothes for the children.

Some of the traditions described are older ones, based on folklore, like the one about hiding brooms and tools from witches and bad spirits in Norway.  In countries in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is associated with summer instead of winter, changing the way people celebrate the holiday.  Each country has their own special foods associated with the holiday, too.

christmasnorway

The book also describes traditions that are associated with other special days related to Christmas, such as St. Lucia Day in Sweden (December 13) and Twelfth Night, when the Wise Men came to visit Jesus (January 6).  These special days are kind of an extension of the Christmas season in different countries.

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The pictures in the book are beautiful.  Some of them are in color and some are in black and white.

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In the back of the book, there are jokes, a craft project, and a recipe for Christmas cookies.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

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Cranberry Thanksgiving

cranberrythanksgivingCranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin, 1971.

Maggie and her grandmother like to invite friends to spend Thanksgiving with them.  Grandmother always tells Maggie to invite someone who doesn’t have anyone else to spend the holiday with.  This year, Grandmother has invited Mr. Horace, a pleasant man with an elegant manner staying at the local hotel.  Maggie has invited Mr. Whiskers, a friendly but somewhat scruffy sailor who has been on his own for years.

Grandmother has never really approved of Maggie’s friendship with Mr. Whiskers (whose real name is Uriah Peabody, but is called Mr. Whiskers because of his long, busy beard).  Mr. Whiskers’s unkempt appearance and lack of refinement have always bothered her.  She also suspects Mr. Whiskers of wanting to steal the secret recipe for her famous cranberry bread because he often shows up when she’s making it.  Some people have offered her a great deal of money for her recipe, but she insists that it’s a family secret that she’s leaving to Maggie.  Still, Mr. Whiskers has been a good friend to Maggie, so she allows him to come to Thanksgiving dinner.

As it happens, someone is out to steal Grandmother’s recipe, but not the person that she suspects.  It’s a nice holiday story about how appearances can be deceptive and real friendship is shown through honest behavior.

This book is part of a series, and like all the other books in the series, there is a recipe in the back.  The recipe in this book is for Grandmother’s Famous Cranberry Bread.