Quill Soup: A Stone Soup Story

by Alan Durant (Author) Dale Blankenaar (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Gather round for soup fit for the king in this vibrant twist on a classic fable. With brightly colored art and engaging characters, this retelling of the well-known Stone Soup story will captivate young readers.

Noko the traveling porcupine arrives in a village. He's denied food and a place to sleep by all the animals he meets. Finally he's granted a fire and a large pot of water. He adds a few of his quills to make his famous quill soup, which he says the king loves! Slowly but surely, everyone contributes ingredients--carrots, beans, and more. Will the soup feed them all?

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Kirkus

Visually dynamic. (Picture book. 3-7).

School Library Journal

Strongly reflective of the culture from which they are drawn, folktales are especially wonderful when authors and illustrators use fresh imagery to reimagine a well known story. Durant plants the elements of the story of stone soup in South Africa, where the main character, a porcupine, travels toward home. On the way, he finds himself in an unfamiliar village and is hopeful that the inhabitants are friendly. Despite ample evidence in Blankenaar's color-saturated illustrations that the residents have plenty to eat, the porcupine is refused food. He decides that he will have to make quill soup and asks for a pot and some water. The illustrations in the book are a remarkable combination of flat folk art and striking modern imagery, full of details for onlookers to find. Children will enjoy locating all the different animals in the pages. VERDICT This is a lovely tale about rushing to judgement and generosity; an excellent addition to any folktale collection.—Debbie Tanner, S D Spady Montessori Elem., FL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Alan Durant
Alan Durant writes fiction for all ages, from preschool prose to poetry for adults. His picture books include Burger Boy, illustrated by Mei Matsuoka. Alan lives with his partner and three children in Brighton, England.

Dale Blankenaar is a full-time picture book illustrator and designer from South Africa. He has illustrated about thirty picture books and has won several awards including the Image of the Book, an international competition for book illustration and design for Quill Soup.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781623541477
Lexile Measure
570
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Charlesbridge Publishing
Publication date
September 15, 2020
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV012040 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Adaptations
Library of Congress categories
Animals
Folklore
Africa
Soups
Porcupines
Sharing
Folk tales
Horn Book Magazine
2020 - 2020

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