A road‑weary fox stops at a farm gate, but his request for a little food meets with flat‑out refusal from the farm animals. Not to be put off, he calmly pulls a large pot from his backpack and sets out to make stone soup. The animals are taken in by fox's ploy, and eagerly provide him with a turnip, a carrot, a cabbage, and a sprinkling of corn, all the necessary ingredients to complement the flavor of a simmering stone. As expected, the end result is a pot of delicious soup, which fox shares with his unwitting benefactors. Vivid colors and cartoon‑like animals add to the fun of this traditional tale. The language is simple and repetitive, well matched to the telling, and retelling, of a trickster on the make. (Ages 3‑7)

When Fox, tired and hungry, wanders into a farm, none of the animals will share their food with him. Fox begins to whip up a batch of stone soup, but it needs a little something to make it just right. With a little cunning, Fox is able to get help from the very animals who refused him before, and ends up with a tasty batch of soup. Full-color illustrations.