What’s a good read aloud to build community?

Recently a fourth grade teacher invited me to her class to read aloud to her students. When I asked if there was a specific theme she’d like, she mentioned that after a year online her students would benefit from a book with a message of “being a team player.”

Stone Soup, by Jon J Muth seemed like the perfect book, and it was. The students loved it!

Think of a community where everyone keeps their doors shut and their curtains drawn–that’s the village where three monks, Hok, Lok, and Siew, find themselves. They have a quest: “What makes one happy?” The wisest monk, Siew, decides they will find out by entering the village and attempting to make “stone soup.”

The neat thing about being kind is it’s usually contagious. That whole saying, “Pay it forward,” is a real phenomenon. Bit by bit all the villagers contribute in making a delicious stone soup complete with carrots and cabbage, tofu and mung bean, even dumplings and rice. Before you know it, the entire village–that used to not even know one another–is enjoying a delightful feast with one another complete with dancing and games by the end of the evening.

When I finished the book and asked for one word to describe the book, the first child I called on got it: COMMUNITY. That’s the theme emulated from Stone Soup. It’s a wonderful picture book to add to your elementary classroom reading list.