Stone Soup

As he has done with other folktales, Ross here offers his own wacky interpretation of the popular fable. In the conventional version, a stranger comes to town and persuades the locals to add various vegetables to a soup he is making, using only boiling water and a stone. In Ross's version, a clever hen persuades a Big, Bad Wolf to put off eating her until she has made him some stone soup. While she adds vegetables, the hen gets the wolf to do her household chores. He enjoys the soup so much that he forgets to eat the hen; he just makes off with the stone. Though this retelling lacks the clever moral of the usual version, Ross's marvelous illustrations make his version distinctive. Ages 4-8. (April)