Community soup

The recipe for Fullerton's second picture book, after A Good Trade, involves a bit of "Stone Soup," a dash of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and a rural Kenyan setting. Outside a schoolhouse, children harvest vegetables for soup: "In the community garden, Jomo picks a pumpkin. Dalila plucks some beans. But where is Kioni?" Fullerton's illustrations mix paper collage with mixed-media elements, and the next page shows a girl with big brown eyes and a yellow cloth dress carrying bundles of grass, finishing her chores. When Kioni finally arrives at school, her goats follow, wreaking minor havoc and letting Fullerton riff on a familiar nursery rhyme: "Kioni has a herd of goats,/ with hair of calico./ And everywhere Kioni goes,/ those goats are sure to-go!" The shift from prose to verse is awkward, and story ends abruptly, but there's much to enjoy in Fullerton's textured illustrations, from the goats' wooly hides, to the dark green vegetation in the garden and thickly painted hills in the distance. A portion of sales benefits the Creation of Hope Project, which supports building community gardens in Kenya. Ages 4-7. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Mary's little lamb becomes a village child's goats in this quirky, Kenya-set tale of making pumpkin vegetable soup. The story opens with children picking vegetables from a community garden. "But where is Kioni?" Kioni is looking for her goats. Suddenly, the text turns into a familiar rhyme, adapted to reflect its setting in an unnamed Kenyan village. Kioni's goats "with hair of calico" almost eat the vegetables, but they make a better contribution to the soup instead (never fear: It's just their milk). Textured collage illustrations combining natural materials and painted images show the busy children, the corn, pumpkin, sweet potato and other vegetables that make up the soup, and Kioni's calico-haired goats. The simple text is set on harvest-toned pages opposite full-bleed pictures. At one point, two consecutive images carry the action. Two double-page spreads emphasize highlights: goats in the garden ("GO!") and, at the end, goats and children each eating their appropriate foods. The story concludes with a recipe. Fullerton, who introduced young readers to rural Uganda in A Good Trade (illustrated by Karen Patkau; 2013), provides a positive picture of community cooperation in another rural setting, identified as Kenya in the publisher's cataloging. (A portion of the book's profits will go to Creation of Hope, a project supporting orphans from and around Kikima, Kenya.) For reading aloud or alone, a nourishing choice. (Picture book. 4-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kioni has a herd of goatsWith hair of calico.And everywhere Kioni goes,Those goats are sure to--Oh no! Excerpted from Community Soup by Alma Fullerton All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.