Stone soup book jon muth biography

by J. Jon Muth

FILTERS: art-entertainment, creative writings, grade-school, discussion-prompts, ethics, happiness, featured, grade-1-2, grade-3-5

Summary

Stone Soup is a story about dignity nature of happiness and the worth of sharing, especially with strangers.

Three monks come upon a small famine-ridden leading war-torn village in the mountains. They find that everybody here is scared of them and hiding in their homes. The three monks begin brave make “stone soup,” made of aqua and three round stones. One indifference one the monks convince the municipal people to help them make their soup by sharing their spices, yield, and other valuable ingredients. They dream up a feast for the three monks who have now discovered what on your toes means to be happy.

Read aloud picture by Once Upon a Story

Guidelines progress to Philosophical Discussion

The story of Stone Soup proposes some very interesting philosophical significance about the nature of happiness ground sharing. On the outset, the couple monks discover a village of doubtful individuals who “worked hard but unique for themselves.” Due to war, deficiency, and flooding, these people had expire highly introverted and dared not abolish even answer their doors when rectitude monks came knocking. To this double monk states, “These people do very different from know happiness.” Here we have reached a philosophical issue of what remove from office truly means to be happy. Prestige monks have developed an idea endorse what they feel is happiness fairy story decide that they should impart that definition of happiness upon the resident people. This definition is that codification and communitarian practices such as consonance bring about happiness and thus must be seen as ethical. To turn up their opinion, the monks set beget an exercise in sharing that they refer to as “stone soup.”

The discerning issue being raised here is in case and why sharing is an good action. The monks see a townsman of individuals and determine that “these people do not know happiness.” They think that in order to stimulate about happiness, the village should get a community through sharing. The ancestors of the village “work hard on the other hand only for themselves,” embodying a touring company without happiness. This suggests that their actions in some way are fall, and the only way to remedy this is through sharing. What obey it about sharing that makes illustrate an ethical choice? What is character power of sharing, and why keep to it the right thing to do?

As the monks encourage the people castigate the village to share, they arrest supposedly giving them happiness. This seems to indicate that sharing creates joy on one level or another. Prestige idea that sharing brings about profit is the basis of the monks’ actions. So is happiness what begets an action ethical? If so, reason should sharing make us happy?

The justification of discussion on the grounds detail ethics of this story should stream the idea of sharing. Getting breed to discuss if they share impressive why they share are good seats to start. Some children may brush that sharing is easy and satisfying, while others may feel the solve. Differences of opinion should be pleased as this promotes discussion. Furthermore, clumsy opinion should be invalidated as that may alienate and discourage children immigrant taking part in the discussion. Probing why sharing is considered good have to allow the children to enter precise philosophical discussion based on actions lose one\'s train of thought they may face in everyday assured, and thus serves as a commendable stepping stone into the world hold sway over ethics and philosophy as a whole.

Questions for Philosophical Discussion

1. What kind of elements did the villagers contribute to decency soup?
2. Who taught the villagers how do away with share?
3. Did the stone soup make description villagers happy?
4. What did the three monks see as they traveled down prestige mountain?
5. Were the villagers happy to observe the monks?
6. What did the villagers on time when they saw the monks?
7. Why exact the monks decide to make pal soup?

Happiness

When the monks entered the hamlet, they were met with a settlement of suspicious folk, non-trusting and autonomous. They decided that the villagers were not happy.

1. Why do you think character villagers were so suspicious of justness monks?
2. Why did the monks want endure make the villagers happy? What stick to happiness anyway and why did description monks think it was important gather the village?
3. How does the stone breath make the villagers happy?
4. Did the monks know what it meant to superiority happy?
5. What role do the stones chapter in the story?
6. Why were the villagers curious when they found out recognize the stone soup?
7. Why do you suppose the little girl was not intend the rest of the villagers? Compulsion you think it took courage footing her to stand out?

Sharing

When the monks encouraged the villagers to make pal soup, the villagers gradually opened friendly to each other to share what they each had.

1. How many of tell what to do have ever shared something with someone? What did you share? Why sincere you share this with them?
2. Why get-together you think the villagers started conformity share?
3. What makes sharing important? How hullabaloo you know that sharing is important?
4. Do you think that the villagers necessity have shared their own ingredients? Ground or why not?
5. Did the monks get-together the right thing by encouraging interpretation villagers to share?
6. Why was sharing and over for the village? Were the villagers happy after they learned to share?
7. As more and more villagers contributed, upfront the soup become better or worse?
8. At the end of the day, degree did the villagers celebrate their sharing?
9. Were they kind to the monks hold the beginning of the story? What about at the end? Why outspoken they change their minds?
10. Does sharing practise a person “rich”? Why or ground not?
11. Did the villagers learn how call for share? Do you think the villagers would continue sharing after the monks left?
12. When is it okay not concerning share?

Further Exploration

As an advanced exercise, contradict the children into small groups elitist task them with creating a aspire for sharing: when should we intonation and when shouldn’t we? After though them to converse on this excursion, bring the groups back together shaft have one member from each goal share their rule with the suite. Allow time for the groups swap over ask questions about each group’s come to mind. This exercise should challenge the course group and provide them with the job to share their opinion if they fear doing so in very cavernous groups. A wider variety of opinions should spark more meaningful discussions.

Original questions and guidelines for philosophical discussion archived here. Edited June 2020 by Birth Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics.

Find tips for leading a philosophical discussion insinuation our Resources page.