Comments for Mean Soup

Mean Soup: 03/01/15

Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt is about a boy, Horace, having a very bad day. He's now in a bad mood and doesn't know what to do about it. His mother, though, has a solution — soup!

Rather than using cooking as a method for calming down, the mother fills a pot with water and screams into it. Then she has her son do the same thing. They also make faces and stick out their tongues.

So the message is basically let your feelings out in a way that won't harm anyone. You'll feel better and you won't hurt anyone.

The idea, though, of putting negative emotions into food makes me think of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I hope they didn't eat their soup — or they might be tasting all that anger.

Three stars

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Monday, March 02, 2015 at 21:43:11

Jeane

Ha, ha- I've actually used this method to reduce tension and stress. A college professor taught it to me. Scream into a sink of water, or into a pillow- but in water is more fun. You holler as loud as you physically can, with all the frustration and anger or whatever, and all you get is silly burbling noises. It's great. I've told my kid about it too- she prefers to yell into a pillow when she's mad.

Comment #2: Monday, March 02, 2015 at 20:31:14

Pussreboots

I enjoy a good scream too but I also get a lot of therapy out of angrily chopping vegetables and grating carrots. Then once I'm calm, I have yummy soup or stew to eat!