Author: Susan K. Mitchell

ISBN: 978-1-891795-26-8

Publisher: The RGU Group

You Can Purchase This Book From Amazon 

 

Stone Pizza is a humorous and realistic retelling of the Stone Soup fable. The characters live in the desert, where it’s hot and food is scarce. Every one’s starving, but only coyote is clever enough to put a meal together that satisfies everyone. He begins with nothing more than a flat stone and the curiosity of several skeptical and wary bystanders.

 It doesn’t take long for the hungry desert creatures to wander out of their hiding places to ask what coyote’s cooking. Why, he’s cooking the most delicious stone pizza ever made!

One by one, coyote convinces his desert buddies to share a bit of the food they’ve been keeping for themselves. Coyote promises that anyone adding an ingredient to the stone pizza will receive a fair share of the delicious pie. Only the horned toad stands aloof. He doubts coyote and he doesn’t mind saying so, at least for a while.

Susan K. Mitchell’s version of this old fable is well written and flows well when read aloud. McNevin Hayes’ illustrations are a treasure. His characters are quirky while retaining just a bit of the rawness you might expect in the desert. My favorite is the jackrabbit, who’s so skinny you can see his ribs.

There’s more to this story than just an easy flow and pictures that make you smile. The lesson behind the fable stresses teamwork, sharing, and ingenuity. Stone Pizza should be a welcome addition to any children’s library.

The above review was contributed by: Susan Sales Harkins: Susan is a Software consultant and the author of several articles and books on database technologies. She and her husband, William, collaborate on children's non-fiction. Click Here to read more of Susan’s Reviews