The most delicious soup and other stories by Mariana Ruiz Johnson. Translated by Rosalind Harvey

The Most Delicious Soup and other stories is a collection of 5 short stories all surrounding a small community called Villa Verde. This community is filled with lots of different animals going about their daily lives and routines. 

The stories share insights into their lives such as a new pet that causes lots of trouble, a grandma and grandchild who visit a library on a rainy day, a child who wants everything on a shopping trip, friends who have to move their rained out camp inside and finally the story where the whole community come together and pitch in to make and clean up a huge delicious soup. 

The book is set out in a comic style, with each story only taking a few pages to tell. The illustrations are clear and enjoyable to look at, whilst telling the stories of friendship and the community happenings. I really liked the cartoon style of animals with dark outlines making them easy to view. 

After doing some reading about the book it was interesting to learn that is has been translated from Spanish to English via The Sidney Myer Fund, a philanthropic foundation. 

On top of children being able to read this book for pure enjoyment, there are definitely some sections where conversations about people, attitudes and community could be had. I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

Themes: Community, Friendship, Animals.

Lauren Fountain