Archive for the ‘Comunity Soup’ Category

“PreS-Gr 2–With echoes of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” this amusing tale set in a Kenyan school garden tells the story of students and their teachers making soup. A girl’s recalcitrant goats, however, do little to help with the process: “Kioni has a herd of goats,/with hair of calico./And everywhere Kioni goes,/those goats are sure […]

“Book Reviews: Savoring the Bounty of Gardens and Good Food” —The International Reading Association reviews books about gardening and food, including Community Soup by Alma Fullerton “’It’s soup day!’ The first line of this story draws readers into a day-in-the-life of Kenyan school community, which Fullerton depicts with mixed-media collage and paper-sculptures that lend a […]

“Fullerton masterfully runs through the paces and emotions of tracking down the pesky, calico haired goats, her illustrations colorful and very tactile. Very different and visually appealing with her mixture of painted and reference materials, cloth and cut outs[.] I really liked the feel of the illustrations.” —Agy Wilson, author/illustrator Click here to read the […]

“Alma Fullerton is an award-winning children’s author living in Midland, Ontario. Although she’s an accomplished visual artist, her newest book, Community Soup (Pajama Press), is the first book she’s illustrated herself. Directed towards children ages four to seven, Community Soup gives young Canadians a fun look at everyday life in a Kenyan village, including a […]

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 […]

“…Fullerton is known more for her writing of juvenile books that have won her recognition and awards, but her foray into picture books is most welcome. Community Soup is her first effort to illustrate her own story. The simply told story uses sparse language, but it is the lively drawings that are so winning. Fullerton’s […]

“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…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 […]

“In this Stone Soup-flavoured story, a Kenyan school is busy with lunchtime preparations. While the teachers stir the broth, students pick vegetables from the community garden. Kioni is late—she’s looking for her goats, which have a habit of wandering away. Not only do the wayward animals break the “no goats at school” edict, they also […]

“…Still putting her story into the joyous rhyme of a favourite nursery tale, Alma Fullerton enhances it with her three-dimensional artwork in mixed media with collages of paper cutouts creating a bounty of textures, teeming with the bold and evocative colours of a Kenyan community.  And the satisfaction of creating a dish cooperatively from the […]