Church at Sunset, photograph Cordelia Athas, 10San Jose, CA
Queen of the World
Sometimes I pretend I am the queen of the world Gliding in a silver sleigh of dreams My dress is made of ripped up clouds And my crown is woven with moonlight I float above the sun each day Watching over my empire I can feel every triumph and every Disappointment ripple through me like a Stone cast into a deep crystal pond But as time steals by it is not so wonderful To hold the weight of the world And I would much rather be a normal girl Bound to life and nothing more So I raise my lips to the velvet sky And gently kiss each star in the Milky Way farewell I suppose that even the queen of the world Grows weary of her place in the universe Ana Carpenter, 10Chicago, IL
Anne with an E
A Gritty but Triumphant Return to Avonlea: A review of the Netflix Original Anne with an “E” I remember reading Anne of Green Gables when I was younger. I would sprawl across the couch and slowly flip through the delicate pages, savoring the words like candy. This is why when I noticed Netflix’s 2017 adaptation, entitled Anne with an “E,” I had to watch! Set in Avonlea, a fictional town on Prince Edward Island, Anne with an “E” tells the heartwarming story of a 13-year-old orphan. After bouncing from orphanages and foster homes, Anne is sent to elderly siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert to assist on their farm. Here, throughout seven 45-minute episodes, Anne navigates the road of adolescence and learns what it feels like to belong to a family and a place. The coastal and rural setting is gorgeous, but the show’s true beauty lies with the emotion and passion of the actors. One especially moving scene occurred mid-first episode when Marilla (Geraldine James) relays to Matthew (R.H. Thomson) that skinny and loquacious Anne would be no help and should be returned to the orphanage. Matthew’s face, partially lit by candlelight, strains as he looks down at his hands. After a few seconds of silence he responds, “Well, we might be of some good to her.” These words were so passionately put that, paired with his emotive expressions, I found myself fighting back tears. Additionally, Anne with an “E” explores valuable themes, like acceptance, that are as meaningful today as they were in the late 19th century. At first, Anne, like many of us, doesn’t fit in at school; she’s ridiculed and excluded because she’s an orphan with raggedy clothing and conspicuous red hair. Then she meets and befriends Diana, a girl her age who consistently makes an effort to include her. Whether it’s sitting next to her in class or making room for her at the lunch table, Diana’s acceptance helps Anne hold her head high. Still, despite the uplifting messages, some critics argue that Anne with an “E” is too negative for the usually youner Anne of Green Gables fans. Anne often has violent flashbacks about being beaten by a foster parent and tormented by other kids at the orphanage before living with the Cuthberts. While it’s true the novel doesn’t depict these barbaric acts, the television version uses them to develop Anne into a complex, compelling, and resilient character. Anne may be haunted by her past, but she perseveres and maintains a vivacious, imaginative personality—one I grew to side with during the series. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Anne with an “E.” Sure it’s gritty, but the talented cast, realistic writing, and multifaceted characters prove that it is, no doubt, a worthwhile show to watch. Neena Dzur, 13Toledo, OH
Stone Soup Honor Roll: July/August 2018
Welcome to the Stone Soup Honor Roll! We receive hundreds of submissions every month by kids from around the world. Unfortunately, we can’t publish all the great work we receive. So we created the Stone Soup Honor Roll. We commend all of these talented writers and artists and encourage them to keep creating. – The Editors Scroll down to see all the names (alphabetical by section), including book reviewers and artists. FICTION Cassidy White, 13 Renatka Maria Kozlowska, 12 Ethan Li, 11 Gabe Rini, 10 Emily Hou, 13 Taylor Fujihara, 13 Claire Klein-Borgert, 7 Sophia Cossitt-Levy, 12 Mercer Goldmann, 10 Fannie Liu, 11 Olivia Luyando, 12 Ashley Xu, 13 Hannah Rubin, 12 Alyssa Ao, 11 Jeffrey Liang, 13 ARTWORK Sreenika Perumalla, 9 Chuiyee Kong, 11 Udit Vaishnav, 7 Nevaeh Santiago, 9 Alexis Forman, 11 POEMS Sophia Schaffer, 11 Shiva Rahel Swaminathan Strickland, 10 Brooks Robinson, 12 Vanessa Gonzalez-Rychener, 12 Cristiano Alvarado Ramos, 8 Lysandre Marot, 9 Whitney Turner, 11 Nicholas Taplitz, 12 Gavin Jarvis, 12 Annabel Cooley, 11 Surya Odom, 10 Aashi Chowdhury, 8 Heysam Sufi, 9
Editor’s Note
Stone Soup was co-founded by William Rubel 45 years ago this year at Porter College at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). This past semester, I got to work on this issue with a group of eight students in a Porter College classroom at UCSC. It was exciting to hear their ideas for the magazine and to discuss their reactions to submissions as we went through the difficult process of selecting pieces for the issue. I’m very proud of the result. What ties these pieces together is a spirit of experimentation and adventure. I hope this issue inspires you to try new things—whether that’s a screenplay, a review of a TV show, or a short poem. For those of you reading online, a few of these pieces also include audio of the writers reading their work!
Ostriches
Ostriches Sierra Glassman, 12Watsonville, CA
Stone Soup Honor Roll: June 2018
Welcome to the Stone Soup Honor Roll! We receive hundreds of submissions every month by kids from around the world. Unfortunately, we can’t publish all the great work we receive. So we created the Stone Soup Honor Roll. We commend all of these talented writers and artists and encourage them to keep creating. – The Editors Scroll down to see all the names (alphabetical by section), including book reviewers and artists. STORIES Nicholas Taplitz, 12 Asha Baudart, 13 Tudor Achim, 8 Jasmine Li, 12 Macy Li, 12 Molly Tulk, 13 Genevieve Gray, 10 POEMS Max Cummins, 13 Anna Dolan, 12 Jayden Bolick, 10 Sophie Yu, 10 Arielle Kouyoumdjian, 9 Nandita S, 11 ARTWORK Jaya Shankar, 11 John P. Anson, 7 Audrey Tai
What’s inside my messy head?
What’s inside my messy head? Being funny And when I’m dead. Things I should’ve Done and said. And always stress About things lost And of my actions What will be the cost. Was that joke Weird or funny? Or what I’ll do outside If tomorrow’s sunny. So what’s inside my messy head? Maintaining strength And the day’s Shortening length. Being a star And messed up jokes That I try to tell quietly And how to escape Authority’s yoke. Tommy Swartz, 12McLean, VA
Red Fern
Red Fern, by Hannah Parker Hannah Parker, 13South Burlington, VT
The Red and Blue Thread
Stella Addle pushed through the school building door, a wave of sound hitting her. Kids yelling and laughing, smiling and scowling. The air felt weighty; the anger, the confusion, pushing down on her shoulders, feeling heavy as bricks. Stella lugged her backpack to her locker. She stared at the lime green paint, then fiddled with her lock and pulled open the locker door. She dropped her backpack on the bottom of the locker and pulled out her math books and her calculator, which was covered in leftover heart stickers from Valentine’s Day. Usually seeing the stickers made her smile, but today she felt as though nothing could make her lips turn upward. This was a tragedy, an absolute tragedy. Forty five presidents and none of them had been women! Hillary Clinton should have won, she should have been the first woman president, but that stupid Donald Trump had to ruin everything! Stella thought as she slammed her locker shut with gusto. November 8th 2016 is going to be the worst day of my life! Stella walked to her homeroom, her legs feeling unsteady, her whole world feeling out of balance, broken. Feeling dizzy, she sat down and scanned the room for Gabby while taking in the rest of the scene. Gabriella Carmann had been Stella’s best friend since second grade. They did everything together; they had sleepovers and shared their deepest secrets with each other, they knew they could tease the other about their clothes and not offend them. They balanced each other out, Gabby was the flashy, stubborn, strong headed leader of the two, and Stella was the quieter, gentler one, keeping them away from heated drama. When Stella was around Gabby she felt a certain strength, a sense of courage that she didn’t feel when she was alone, as if some of Gabby’s confidence was magically seeping into her. For Gabby, Stella was the source of cool water that doused Gabby’s flames, the flames that burned the same color as her orange hair. It was because of Stella that Gabby was starting to find some of that water in herself, way deep down, but still it was there. Pink Finally she saw her: Gabby walked into the classroom sporting a pair of gray hand-me-down sweatpants from her older sister Franny, short for Frances, and a purple t-shirt with a turquoise flower print. Her denim backpack hug over her shoulder and her long red hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. This was Gabby’s usual look, so what surprised Stella was the smile that spread across Gabbys face. Stella knew Gabby and her family were Republican, but for some reason Stella never thought they would vote for Trump, or be happy if he won. Puzzled, Stella stood up and followed Gabby to her locker. “Hey,” Stella said leaning against one of the lockers. “Morning,” Gabby replied as she unpacked her backpack. “So…” Stella said nodding slowly. Thoughts were racing through her mind; conversation usually came easy to the two of them, why was it hard now? “What?” Gabby said. “What is it? What’s wrong?” You’re happy…. Trump’s our President-Elect…. Stella thought as she looked at the floor. “If something’s up, just tell me,” Gabby slammed her locker shut and stared at her friend. Just tell me. Please. “It’s just… you… are you glad Trump won?” Stella’s face turned red with shame. “Oh! Uh, yeah, I mean, I guess…. I mean my parents voted for him.” She thought we voted for Hillary? She knows we’re Republican, Gabby thought. The bell rang and the hallways were filled with noisy sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Stella had math first period and Gabby had science. “I got to go. See you later?” Gabby asked. “Sure,” Stella said, and she turned and walked to math, wondering what had just happened. * * * Stella plopped down in her chair, feeling exhausted. Family dinners were an important part of the Addle household and usually Stella enjoyed them, especially on lasagna nights like these, but not tonight. Margaret Addle, Stella’s mom, placed the lasagna on the table and sat down across from her husband. Usually, though it was only the three of them, the table buzzed with conversation, a light and fluffy happiness, almost as delicious as Mrs. Addle’s cooking, hanging in the air. Tonight however, the air felt heavy and cold and the conversation that usually flowed easily, had vanished. “ Did Stella’s parents know Gabby’s parents had voted for Trump? “Well, how was everyone’s day?” Mr. Addle asked. His eyes were wide and he had an awkward smile. He began scooping lasagna onto plates. “Where do I begin!?” Mrs. Addle rolled her eyes, looking generally annoyed. “Sarah and Megan were talking about the election during our lunch break, and guess what?” She put a fork full of lasagna into her mouth. Sarah and Megan were some of Mrs. Addle’s coworkers. “What?” Mr. Addle asked. Stella looked back and forth between her parents, she could tell this was not a good “guess what.” “They both voted for Trump! Both of them!” Mrs. Addle was yelling now. “Women! Women voted for Trump! They’re uneducated women, that’s what they are!” She let out a heavy sigh. “Uneducated women,” she said, shaking her head. Stella stared at her mother. She had never seen her like this: yelling, looking close to tears, yet not sad. “Margaret, please, calm down,” Mr. Addle said putting a hand on his wife’s hand. Stella kept looking at her mother. Mrs. Addle’s blue eyes looked foggy and gray. Her body shook with anger, but slowly as she got back her cool, the anger lessened and a sadness settled in. Her shoulders sagged and Stella noticed something she had never seen in her mother before: helplessness. Suddenly a frightening thought came to Stella, and her parents conversation about taxes and broken printers at work became muffled and hard to hear. Gabby said her parents voted for
The Hobbit
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012; $14.99 “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, published in 1937, is a timeless tale of adventure worth reading over and over again. If you manage to pull open the green door that guards the cozy home inside, what do you see? Try to take the yellow brass knob placed picturesquely in the center. This door guards an adventurous tale of thirteen dwarfs and a hobbit. The “unexpected party” sets off to reclaim the dwarfs’ treasure from Smaug “the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities”. You creep inside this door and hear faint singing; Tolkien’s poetry and songs fill this story with fun rhymes and longing hopes. Down the hall, in the kitchen, is Bilbo Baggins a clever, courageous and persistent hobbit. Farther inside the well-kept hobbit hole, you see lessons Bilbo learns along his journey. You look out the window, and in the distance you watch fourteen figures on horseback. Will the burglar and the dwarfs reclaim their “long-forgotten gold”? Whether you’re on your way far over the Misty Mountains cold, chipping glasses and cracking plates, or maybe tra-la-la-lalling in the valley, Tolkien’s dexterous poems and songs are sure to please for ages to come. The poems are either funny, longing or ingenious. They add an extra layer of descriptions that makes one feel as if one is actually in Bilbo’s parlor listening to the dwarfs singing of the Lonely Mountain and the dragon’s great greed that led to the destruction of Dale. No hobbit is smarter, more stouthearted and steadfast than Bilbo Baggins. Throughout the course of The Hobbit, Bilbo is clever. For example, he rescued the dwarfs when they had been captured by the Wood-Elves in Mirkwood. No one would have come up with the escape plan Bilbo thought of: saving the dwarfs by way of barrel. But that is only one side of the Tookish hobbit. It takes courage to go on an adventure with thirteen strange, uncouth dwarfs. For instance, Bilbo was brave and bright when he bested Gollum in the riddle contest while inside the dark, damp tunnels of the Goblin King. Lastly, Bilbo is persistent. Finding the keyhole when all the other dwarfs had given up shows his sense of perseverance. All in all, Bilbo is valiant, quick-witted and never quits. The books that have withstood time’s test have lessons to teach. The Hobbit did, and still does, just that. Along his journey, the small hobbit, Bilbo, learns many lessons. Smaug’s greed for gold and jewels lead the scarlet dragon to destruction. This teaches us not to live for ourselves alone. The theme of good verses evil teaches us to fight for what is right. The company’s determination to succeed in their goal is admirable. This inculcates us to never give up. The lessons learned in this valuable book have endured. As Bilbo said, or more rather, sang, roads do go ever on and on. Sometimes the road is made of difficult terrain, rocky and hard to climb; but sometimes the road is smooth; the sun is shining, and the sky is clear and blue. You stop short as you see your neighbor’s hobbit holes – you’re home! However, you notice something different. It isn’t something you can hold in your hand, but something imprinted in your heart. What you find are clever songs; an endearing character—Bilbo—who teaches you life lessons. You gently close the round door, smiling. Catherine Gruen, 11Chino Hills, CA
Blue Heron
Blue Heron Sierra Glassman, 12Watsonville, CA
