The Soup Bone Review

The Soup Bone [1990, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN: 0-15-277255-3], by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Margot Tomes, is a 32-page children's book with a Halloween theme.

The Story

The Soup Bone begins with a little old lady who lives alone in a house that is too far away for trick-or-treaters to venture out to, so the lady decides to make herself some soup because she is lonely and hungry. She has all the good fixings for soup except for a bone, but she cannot seem to find a soup bone anywhere in the house. She begins to look outside for a bone and finally finds one partially buried only to discover that it is part of a scary skeleton, who promptly chases her up a tree and then decides to go into her house!

The little old lady seems pretty savvy as she decides to give the skeleton a bit of a scare as she dresses up in a dog costume. The skeleton searches for a suitable hiding place and ends up under the bed. The woman finally agrees not to scare the skeleton if he won't scare her, and they end up having fun together enjoying music and a nice meal of soup (without the bone).

After their meal, they are bored and trying to find something to do. Whatever will the couple do on Halloween?

The illustrations are a lot of fun in this book, especially since it does not spell out everything, so the illustrations play an important role in discovering the story behind the story.

My Viewpoint:

The Soup Bone is a delightful story of a lonely old woman who is quite crafty and eventually makes a new friend. It is a bit strange for me to think of someone digging out in the yard to find a bone to put in their soup, but it makes for a fun story that is rather unusual and a bit unpredictable for a children's book.