Perfect Soup by Lisa Moser and illustrated by Ben Mantle (Random House, October 2010) tells the simple story of Murray the mouse that wants to make “perfect soup.” When he finds himself short a carrot, he tries to borrow one from someone else but the farmer wants him to help in order to “earn” the carrot. One thing leads to another and it takes all day to do chores for others in order to get his carrot.
In the end, the lonely snowman gives him a gift, and Murray learns from the snowman that giving something without expecting something is what friends do. Also, soup doesn’t need a carrot to be perfect.
