When three hungry soldiers come to a town where all the food has been hidden, they set out to make soup of water and stones, and all the town enjoys a feast.

Three soldiers came marching down the road towards a French village. The peasants seeing them coming, suddenly became very busy, for soldiers are often hungry. So all the food was hidden under mattresses or in barns. There followed a battle of wits, with the soldiers equal to the occasion. Stone soup? Why, of course, they could make a wonderful soup of stones...but, of course, one must add a carrot or tow...some meat...so it went.

Marcia Brown has made of this old tale a very gay book, a carnival of activity, of dancing and laughter. So much goes on in the pictures that children who have once heard the story will turn to them again and again, retelling the story for themselves.

A French version of the story is available under the title Une Drôle de Soupe.

Marcia BrownMarcia Brown is the first and only author-illustrator to be awarded the Caldecott medal three times and to receive six Caldecott Honor Book citations. These numerous accolades attest to Marcia Brown's distinction as one of Americas's most revered creators of children's books.In 1918 Marcia Brown was born in Rochester, New York, the youngest of three girls. Because her father was a minister, the family lived in many towns. As a child, Marcia drew whenever possible, even in her book margins at school, and by the time she was twelve, she knew that she wanted to illustrate books. In 1946, with the publication of her first book, The Little Carousel, Charles Scribner's Sons Books of Young Readers launched Marcia Brown's career in children's books. Since she has published over twenty books with Scribners, including Cinderella (1955), Once A Mouse... (1962) and Shadow (1982), which all won Caldecott medals. Her prints have been displayed at the New School for Social Research, Carnegie Institute, Brooklyn Museum, and several galleries. The Library of Congress includes her work in their permanent collection. Marcia Brown is the recipient of the 1992 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented every three years to an author or illustrator whose books are published in the United States and who has, over a period of years , made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.