A review by mldavisreads
Quill Soup by Dale Blankenaar, Alan Durant

adventurous

4.5

Folktale retelling.  In this version of Stone Soup, a porcupine has been traveling and wants to rest and get some food.  However, none of the animals will give him any food. So he starts quill soup, which he has made for the king.  Hearing this, the animals are curious and all of a suden able to find food.  When everybody comes together, they are able to make a delicious quill soup that feeds everyone.  I liked the idea of retelling this tale with animals.  The illustrations are quite unique, done in a limited color palette and almost abstract manner.  Looking closely at them, you can see into the animal homes and see all of the food they have but are not sharing.  I especially liked when porcupine visited the monkeys and asked for spare food, you can see a bag literally labeled "spare food" right inside the door.  As with the original, this is a great book to discuss strength in community.  It would also be cool to tie this in with an art project using the same color scheme.