In Chronological Order

McGovern, Ann. and Winslow Pels. Stone Soup. New York, Scholastic, 1986.

A young boy arrives at a large house after walking until he grows very hungry. The little old lady who owns the house initially declines to feed the boy until he claims he only needs a stone to make a meal. The boy convinces the little old lady, who is curious about the magical soup, to continue adding ingredients until they have a meal fit for a king. The boy and the little old lady share the meal together. The boy departs with the stone in his pocket claiming it has not cooked enough - looking forward to his next supper. McGovern's version emphasizes the little old lady's gullibility and the trickster qualities of the young boy. Pels' expressive characters exist in a whimsical full-color landscape interspersed throughout the text and displayed as vibrant full-page illustrations. This fast-paced story uses simple language and dialogue but communicates levels of detail through the expressive artwork.

Ross, Tony. Stone Soup. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1987.

Two familiar folkloric characters- Mother Hen and The Big Bad Wolf- star in this reimagining of Stone Soup. When the Big Bad Wolf comes knocking to gobble up Mother Hen she asks only to be allowed a bowl of stone soup before she is devoured. The Big Bad Wolf, a self-proclaimed soup aficionado who has never tasted such a soup before, agrees out of a sense of curiosity. Mother Hen sources the ingredients for stone soup herself but she tricks the Big Bad Wolf into doing her household chores in the process. After the chores are done and the soup is finished they share the delicious soup together and the Big Bad Wolf is too full to eat Mother Hen. Determined not to be bested the Big Bad Wolf steals the stone in false triumph and runs away. The humorous illustrations portray a back-and-forth that exaggerates the squabble with increasing absurdity.

Davis, Aubrey. and Dušan Petričić. Bone Button Borscht. 1st U.S. ed. Buffalo, NY, Kids Can Press, 1997.

On a dark winter's night, a beggar man descends on a small town at the bottom of a hill looking for food. When none of the townsfolk will answer their door the beggar follows a small sliver of light towards a synagogue where he warms himself by the stove and encounters the synagogue caretaker- the Shamas. The beggar removes the bone buttons from his jacket and asks the shamas for one more button so he can perform a miracle by making bone button borscht. Mendel, the town tailor, begrudgingly offers up a button and slowly the entire town begins to give offerings in hopes of witnessing a miracle. The beggar produces a delicious borscht and shares it with the entire village when, as if by magic, bread, meat, and wine appear. For several years after the villagers take turns housing the beggar until he continues on his way. They trade the beggar's brass buttons for his bone buttons to continue to make the borscht. The bone buttons are lost over time the villagers discover how to make borscht without them and keep the memory of the miracle performed by the beggar alive. Detailed watercolor and pencil renderings in muted greys and blues illustrate the story and grow more colorful as the story progresses.

Forest, Heather. and Susan Gaber. Stone Soup. Little Rock, Ark., August House LittleFolk, 1998.

Two dusty travelers happen upon a comfortable village nestled in the mountains and stop to ask the villagers for food to eat. After everyone in the village declines to help them the travelers call out to the villagers claiming to be master chefs and ask for a black pot to make a delicious soup. Slowly the villagers contribute bits of food to the pot until they have laid out a hearty meal shared by the entire town. This tale ends with a rhyming moral and a recipe for the reader to make their own stone soup meant for sharing. Gaber's pastoral art is bursting with details of a charming mountain village saturating the entire page with color. Forest includes an author's note referencing earlier French, Swedish, and Russian versions of the tale. This version portrays the two travelers as wise and good-natured tricksters who uphold the virtues of generosity and collective impact.

Muth, John J. Stone Soup. Scholastic Inc., 2003.

Three monks named Hok, Lok, and Siew are walking along a mountain path when the ringing of a bell leads them to a village racked by famine, flood, and war and therefore distrustful of outsiders. Muth describes how the people of the village had become estranged even from each other. The brothers knock upon the doors of the villagers but nobody answers. The brothers agree to teach the villagers how to make stone soup by working together. A little girl is first to approach the monks and slowly the entire village comes to learn how to make stone soup. Generosity inspires more generosity and the villagers begin to offer lavish offerings for the soup. The act of feasting brings the villagers together and they agree to give shelter to the travelling monks thanking them for reunifying the village. Muth both writes and illustrates this dreamy and delicate world set in the Chinese countryside.

Kimmel, Eric A., and Phil Huling. Cactus Soup. Marshall Cavendish, 2004.

Cactus Soup is set during the Mexican Revolution in the town of San Miguel. As a traveling group of soldiers nears the town the mayor, who is distrustful of soldiers, instructs the townspeople to hide their food and rub dirt on their faces as to appear too impoverished to help the soldiers. The soldiers, undeterred, notice the cactus growing around town and declare that since there is no food to share they will teach the town how to make cactus soup. As the soldiers boil a cactus thorn in water they suggest a series of ingredients but, not wishing to impose on the townspeople, declare the soup will be fine without the additions saying repeatedly "Why ask for what you don't have." The townspeople, however, interested in the soup, reveal the hidden food and together they make a delicious soup that feeds the entire town. The text includes a glossary in the backmatter that defines Spanish terms and describes regional ingredients.

Seeger, Pete, Paul DuBois Jacobs, and Michael Hays. Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2005.

After a long war and subsequent famine, a hungry soldier arrives in a seventeenth-century German village that has grown distrustful of strangers, especially soldiers. The war-weary adults are incredulous when the soldier claims he can make a pot of stone soup to share with the villagers but the children are curious and help the soldier find and fill a pot. The soldier teaches them a song- replete with musical notation- and the children help the soldier by sourcing seasoning, bones, and vegetables until the smell of the soup entices the entire village. Everybody in the village eventually partakes in the meal breaking bread together and sharing in song. Seeger, Jacobs, and Hays include an author's note that acknowledges Jo Schwartz as the storyteller who first told the story to Seeger and broadly references the European origins of the Stone Soup. This version of the tale both celebrates the cleverness of the soldier and the healing power of community care.

Gershator, David., Phillis Gershator, and Diane Greenseid. Kallaloo!: A Caribbean Tale. Marshall Cavendish, 2005.

Granny, after finding her cupboards bare during lunchtime, goes fishing to catch something to eat. She does not catch any fish but she does find a magical shell that whispers into her ear and she hatches a plan. Granny shows the shell to all of the people in the market square and begins to boil a pot for kallaloo, a Caribbean style of gumbo named after a local ground-growing spinach like-vine. After tossing the magical shell into the water the shell begins to make suggestions to make the soup taste even better. The market sellers and fishermen in the market square contribute vegetables, salted meat, fish, and even fungee- a type of cornmeal mush- until the soup is ready to be shared with everyone in the market square. Granny retrieves the magical shell and returns it to the ocean asking "Who will find it next?". The warm and colorful illustrations bursting with orange and green evoke the spices and ingredients of the kallaloo. This version of stone soup, told in a West Indian dialect, includes an author's note defining regional ingredients and two recipes for kallaloo in the back matter.

Compestine, Ying Chang. and Stéphane Jorisch. The Real Story of Stone Soup. New York, Dutton Children's Books, 2007.

This Chinese retelling of Stone Soup tells the story of the Chang brothers from the perspective of their overbearing boss. The narrator claims that the old folktale of stone soup is incorrect and that the real recipe for stone soup was invented by the Chang brothers in China. On a fishing trip, the boss and the Chang brothers dock their boat on the beach only to discover they have no cooking equipment or ingredients. The Chang brothers claim to find three stones- a fish stone, a vegetable stone, and a yummy-egg stone, that will make a delicious soup while their skeptical boss crafts bowls and chopsticks. Unbeknownst to their boss the Chang brothers source the real ingredients needed for the soup while their Boss claims to do all of the work. The boss is astonished when the soup is delicious and believes the Chang brothers have invented an authentic soup made of stones- but Jorisch's clever illustrations indicate another story. In this benevolent trickster tale, the Chang brothers are the real industrious heroes while the boss- self-assured and oblivious- relates his version of the real stone soup (although he hasn't had time to make it himself). Compestine includes a note from the author discussing the use of hot stones as a traditional cooking technique.

Maddern, Eric. and Paul Hess. Nail Soup. London, Frances Lincoln Children's, 2007.

This Scandinavian variation of Stone Soup features a traveler who arrives at a cottage in a forest search of a place to sleep. When the traveler approaches the cottage the woman who lives inside denies the man a bed but he begs until she relents and allows him to sleep on the floor and the traveler complies. When the traveler asks for food the woman claims she has none and is shocked when the traveler offers to share his provisions- a single rusty nail. Bit by bit the woman contributes more ingredients to improve the soup until they have made a hearty soup fit for a king to share between them. After their shared meal they stay up late sharing stories of the man's travels and the woman offers him a proper bed and in the morning spares a coin for the man and they part as friends even when the traveler. The text includes an afterthought that casts the traveler not as a trickster but as a well-meaning human with a desire to connect through stories and food. The traveler speaks in rhyming couplets which, paired with Hess' surreal imagery, shapes the changing perspectives explored in the story.

Evans, Cambria. Bone Soup. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008.

This spooky iteration of Stone Soup follows Finnegan- a hungry skeleton- on his quest to satisfy his ravenous appetite. In the spirit of Halloween this story features a town full of creatures like witches, beasts, zombies, and mummies. The supernatural villagers are fearful of Finnegan's famous appetite and safeguard their prized ingredients before his arrival. When Finnegan arrives to find no feast he resolves to make soup from an ancient bone. Finnegan sings while he brings the cauldron to a boil and his singing draws the curiosity of the village. Finnegan entices the villagers with the delicacy of stone soup and convinces them to offer their bat wings, eyeballs, and frog legs. The soup, after being packed with creepy crawly additions, is fit for a Halloween feast and the entire village indulges together. The creepy-cute art style brings a sense of the ghastly to a tale celebrating the power of sharing and generosity.

Davis, David, and Ben Galbraith. Fandango Stew. Union Square and Co., 2011.

In this dialect-heavy tale Slim and Luis, a grandson and grandfather cowboy duo ride into the town of Skinflint hungry and without a peso to their name. The town initially refuses to feed them until Slim and Luis intrigue the them with a recipe for fandango stew made with a single fandango bean. The townsfolk each contribute to the pot until the entire town is fed and nobody goes to bed hungry. The next morning, when the cowboys depart, they are treated as heroes- even after they reveal the mysterious fandango bean is simply a pinto bean and the real recipe depends on the generosity of strangers. Davis uses humor, song, and bits of Spanish language to establish the Wild West landscape that distinguishes this variation in aesthetic and vernacular. Galbraith's detailed and colorful illustrations bring the town to life and support the character-driven intrigue of this tale that affords even the smallest characters a big personality.

Glaser, Linda,, and Maryam Tabatabaei. Stone Soup With Matzoh Balls: A Passover Tale in Chelm. Albert Whitman & Company, 2014.

In this Passover tale, a ragged stranger arrives in the town of Chelm in hopes of joining the Seder. The villagers, short on food after a harsh winter, advise the traveler to search elsewhere but he intrigues the town by claiming he can make a delicious soup from a single stone. The townspeople contribute seasonings, vegetables, and meat to improve the soup until one townsperson decries that the soup is missing the promised matzoh balls. When the villager describes his matzoh balls as dense and heavy the people of Chelm offer their renowned matzoh balls- which are known for being light and delicious. This version of Stone Soup directly engages the reader to question whether or not the townspeople of Chelm are fools for helping the hungry stranger and uses The author includes brief notes about the history of Passover, the fictional Eastern European town of Chelm, and concise source notes regarding the origins of Stone Soup.

Durant, Alan, and Dale Blankenaar. Quill Soup: A Stone Soup Story. First US edition., Charlesbridge, 2020.

This bright and bold rendition of Stone Soup features Noko the porcupine as a wandering hungry traveler who happens upon a small animal village in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The village of animals claim to have no food although their round bellies and shiny coats indicate otherwise. Desperate, Noko asks for a simple pot of water when no food is forthcoming and plucks three quills from his own back and begins to make a stew. Noko tastes the soup and declares it is delicious- just as the king likes it. Impressed by Noko's relationship to the King and curious to try the delicacy, the villagers offer up vegetables and insects until the broth is thick and rich. Noko shares the soup with the entire village and they rejoice together in dance and song. The Monkey even offers Noko their best bed as thanks for sharing the delicious soup. The colorful and busy illustrations rely on patterns and bold lines resulting in striking and impactful visuals that bring a memorable flare to this zoological version of Stone Soup.

Pizzoli, Tamara. Corona Soup: A Modern Retelling of Stone Soup. Illustrated by Cynthia Barrera, The English Schoolhouse, 2020.

In this modern Italian retelling of stone soup Signora Costanza is an elder living in a vibrant close-knit community. When her community is affected by COVID-19 and the neighborhood begins to implement social distancing. Signora Costanza, who lives alone, is isolated from the community that gives her so much joy. Gaia, a little girl who lives in the same building, grows worried when Signora Costanza is no longer seen at the window. Gaia organizes with her neighbors to deliver a soup made with offerings from the entire neighborhood, even though many of the shops are closed. Though the neighbors are physically isolated Gaia makes a delivery to Signora Costanza through a rope and pulley system. Even the birds in the neighborhood gather at Signora Costanza's window to announce the delivery of the soup. Signora Costanza thanks her neighbors by making a colorful banner for the entire neighborhood. Barrera's colorful illustrations bring liveliness and personality to this vibrant Italian community and illustrate the growing impact of COVID-19 on the neighborhood.