Girl with a Camera (iPhone SE) By Eliana Pacillo, 12 (Walpole, MA), published in Stone Soup October 2021 A note from Sarah Happy Saturday! First off, we wanted to highlight another tremendous accomplishment from our former contributor Sabrina Guo. Sabrina will be reading aloud her commended poem “65 Cybele” at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) scheduled for November 6 of this year. Sabrina has written a powerful poem about the interconnectedness of the earth and contemplating the beginnings of our world. You can read it here on the Poetry Society website. We’re so in awe of Sabrina’s efforts as a poet and activist and so pleased she will be able to advocate for a better future through her art on this global scale. Now to the main portion of the newsletter: have you gotten the chance to read the October issue yet? If not, I highly recommend you dedicate some time to do so. It’s always heartening and well worth your while to read the work of the young writers of Stone Soup magazine—we’ve said it before but it still stands: these are the writers, thinkers, and leaders of the future. In particular, I want to draw your attention to the series of autobiographical vignettes by Anushka, 10 (you can scroll down to read the first, “Emperor Monsoon”). Anushka writes reflectively and honestly about so many different subjects—family, faith, and the pandemic, to name a few. Her vignettes remind me of the therapeutic power of writing, especially when it comes to writing autobiographically. In tumultuous, transitional times, it can be very helpful to process your thoughts and feeling through writing. For many, if not all of us, the past year and a half has been one of those difficult periods. Did you keep a journal through any or part of pandemic, as William suggested? And if so, did you find it helpful? If you are up to it, the project I suggest for this weekend is to write about a topic that has personally affected you recently. It may be about school, friends, family, or even a book that made an impact on you. Try not to set any expectations for length—express what you want to in as many words as seems necessary. Oftentimes, writing about your own life can be a private exercise, and we understand that. However, if you do want to share your writing with us, as Anushka has done, we will of course be grateful for the chance to read your piece. Here is the link to submit. Until next time, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers on our blog! Orin, 11, wrote a glowing review of the second novel in the City of Ember Series by Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks. Anushka, 11, reflected on her return to in-person schooling in her piece, “Schooling in the Midst of a Global Pandemic: Thoughts of an 11-Year-Old.” Jackson, 12, wrote a review of the first book in the Wings of Fire Series by Tui T. Sutherland, The Dragonet Prophecy. From Stone Soup October 2021 An Excerpt from Autobiographical Vignettes By Anushka Trivedi, 10 (Silver Spring, MD) EMPEROR MONSOON The rain looks like crystallized icicles falling in gray sheets from the sky. The earth moves with its impact. Every other sound is subdued, as if bowing down respectfully to Emperor Monsoon. I watch from the window of my grandparents’ home in the city of Ahmedabad, India. The plants dance as the cascade of water washes off layers of dust from their delicate leaves. The rains have breathed life into them. Green looks greener, grey looks greyer, red looks redder, white looks whiter. Water has colored the world. About a dozen langur monkeys are escaping into the branches before they are completely drenched, leaping from roof to roof, balcony to balcony, with confidence and ease. They never miss a step or make a mistake. Tiny baby monkeys clutch their mothers’ bellies. They do not have a care in the world. They are safe as they glide above the world with their family. The stray dogs scurry away as well. They welcome the cool water on their overheated backs but prefer the shaded garage or the space under the cars. They want to hear the rain and feel the earth cool off before they venture out again. I cannot resist feeling the rain on my skin. I skip to the patio and watch the drenched swing swinging gently by itself in the rain. Even the wood and metal on the swing seem grateful for the cool water on their burning bodies. I reach out and feel the drops on my palms. Slowly, I move forward beyond the shade of the patio and feel the rain thundering on my body. I feel like I am standing under a waterfall. I am completely wet in seconds. There is no stopping me now. I jump in the small puddles that rain has created on the patio, kick water into the air, and raise my face to the sky in utter delight. I skip, hop, and sing in the rain. To read more of Anushka’s “Autobiographical Vignettes,” click here. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
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Saturday Newsletter: October 2, 2021
Baleful Strix (Colored pencil, pastel, acrylic, & watercolor), by Zoe Campbell, 11 (San Francisco, CA), published in the October 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from Jane Now it’s October, it definitely feels like fall—the perfect time of year to curl up in a cozy chair on one of those ever-lengthening evenings with the new issue of Stone Soup and a pile of books to read. There are so many delights in this month’s issue, but I wanted to draw your attention to a book review, included in our new feature highlighting material from Stonesoup.com. I am a huge fan of the absurd, especially when it appears in the form of an incredibly serious approach to something not obviously worthy of that kind of attention, so I loved reading Brais Macknick-Conde’s review of David Rees’s How to Sharpen Pencils. Besides the fact that I am naturally drawn to the book Brais reviewed, I also really enjoyed the style in which they reviewed it. While sharing all of the proper insights of a great reviewer, they brilliantly deadpan their way through their review, mirroring the style of the book itself, and closing with a gloriously tongue-in-cheek summary of the important things learned from this manual. This weekend, I challenge you to produce a review of a piece of creative work in the style of the original. Focus in on two or three paragraphs of the writing you are reviewing and take note of the author’s word choices, sentence structures, turns of phrase, and adherence to the rules of genre. Do they have particular stylistic tics you can mimic? Maybe something like long, rambling sentences broken up with clauses or dashes—as if they are having lots of thoughts at once, in a haze—or, perhaps, equally long, meandering ones, somehow controlled with commas; or semi-colons. Or perhaps it’s all short and to the point. Or choosing every word or phrase carefully, like a cat waiting to pounce? They might use deliberately technical language, or period speech. Whatever it is, work with your observations to have fun working in the mode of someone else’s style or genre. Understanding our greatest inspirations can be a great way to help us find our own voices, and have some fun in the process. If visual art is more your bag, take inspiration from the tremendous October issue cover art by Zoe Campbell. Her Baleful Strix is so vividly alive, its legs powerful, its wings outstretched, leaning into our space and fixing us with its eyes. Its power is emphasized by her bold color palette, an extraordinary mixture of strong, fiery warmth and cooling blue-grays and purples. It makes me think of fall, and Halloween, and mythology—and at the same time, the creature’s expression, and even the striking title, make me question its identity. Is it really the baleful loner it seems? I feel there are many possible tales to tell embedded in this image . . . Whatever you choose as your creative inspiration this weekend, if you are happy with it, send us what you make! Before I go, I wanted to say that this week we are saying a fond farewell to one of our longest-serving interns, Anya Geist. We already knew Anya as a contributor pre-2020, but when COVID-19 struck she stepped forward to participate in and help us deliver all the new projects we started at that time—classes, Book Club, prompts, contests, and related web posts, just for starters—and she became a really important part of our team. We couldn’t possibly have got it all done without you, Anya! I was lucky to be the team member working most closely with Anya. It was a pleasure from start to finish, and great to have someone keeping me (mostly) on track! We especially had fun teaching our summer camp on starting your own literary magazine. (And what a great group joined the class, performing the miracle of making an actual online magazine in four days flat. Phew!). I want to say on behalf of the whole Stone Soup team that we are so proud of everything you have achieved with us, Anya. “Thank you” is two rather small words, but they mean so much in this instance. We look forward to hearing more from you as you continue to carry your brilliance out into the world. You can read a message from Anya herself below. Until next time, A note from Anya Dear Stone Soup Community, For the past sixteen-plus months, I have been working as an intern for Stone Soup. Now, my time here is coming to an end—I’m ready to take all that I’ve learned into my own community in Massachusetts, and to launch into all of the excitement that is sophomore year of high school. I have learned and grown so much through Stone Soup, and not only via my internship. Stone Soup has let me share my writing and art with the world: photography, short stories, poetry, my novel . . . all of it. I have met other young writers through the writing workshops, and through the summer camps; and of course, I gained invaluable leadership experience through my internship—co-running Book Club, creating an interview series with Stone Soup contributors, and far more. If you had told me five years ago that the magazine I loved to read would become so much more important in my life, I might not have believed it. But that’s what has happened. I am so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to explore my confidence and independence, and to engage with the community—with all of you—through creative prompts, flash contests, Book Club, and so much more. Stone Soup will always be very special to me, and I hope that other young writers and artists will feel that way, too. Sincerely, Last call for the Selfie Contest! Our 2021 Selfie Contest: With and Without Masks will come to a close tomorrow night at 11:59 am Pacific Time, so make sure to get your submissions in! To submit to this contest, please visit our Submittable page. Highlights from the past week online
Saturday Newsletter: September 25, 2021
Astro Doll (mixed media) by Ruth, 8 (Ethiopia & Kenya), published in the September 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from Laura Dear friends, It’s hard to believe this is my first official newsletter. Some of you may know me from the Book Club for Writers. I am also an enthusiastic Stone Soup parent. My primary role at Stone Soup is the director of the Refugee Project. I want to write to you from that perspective today. The Refugee Project was launched in 2018 with the aim of providing a platform for refugee children to use their voices to tell their own stories. To do that, we have partnered with several organizations that work with young people, both in refugee camps and living in countries far from their homes, where they have been relocated to build a new life. Through these partnerships, we have collected over three-hundred pieces of artwork and writing by young refugees. Some of these are featured in the September issue of Stone Soup. Two particularly intriguing pieces are Astro Doll and Astro Doll Queen, created by students at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, with the support of the My Start Project. The term “Astro Doll” was made up by these young artists to capture the alien, or otherworldly, quality of the dolls. These artists were inspired by the idea of their own legal status as refugees—refugees are not granted citizenship in the countries where they are forced to reside and are instead labeled as having “alien status.” The Future of the Refugee Project In the next phase of the Refugee Project, as we continue to collect creative works by refugee youth for display on the website, we are also working to expand and deepen our collaboration with the organizations that have already contributed writing and artwork to the Refugee Project. Our central goal for these ongoing collaborations is to facilitate further engagement between you, our Stone Soup audience, and the artists and creative works displayed through the Refugee Project. This means many exciting prospective projects, including teaching creative writing to young people in refugee camps and then, through these efforts, facilitating collaborative learning—things like pen pal partnerships and other ways of exchanging and engaging with one another’s writing and artwork. To make this vision a reality, we need your help. Our fundraising drive for this project will last through the end of September. Our deepest thanks to those of you who have already donated to support this work! Click here to donate now. To explore our growing collection of creative work by refugee youth in its entirety, check out our newly created Refugee Project web portal. Book Club Join Book Club today to discuss Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk and to have a say in our October book choice! We are thrilled to share that we will be joined by Lucy Worsley, a prominent British author and historian to discuss her fantastic book The Austen Girls. Sign up for the December Book Club today to meet Ms. Worsley and discuss this fresh and fun story about some never-before-told trials and tribulations in the life of Jane Austen! Weekend Project For your weekend project, I encourage you to explore, in writing or artwork, the idea of “other worlds.” You can explore this theme through many lenses. You might seek, through your creative efforts, to create a sense of place that feels foreign, unfamiliar, or alternate to your own world. Or you might go even deeper and explore, in your writing or artwork, the concept of alienation. How might you represent being unsettled? How might you challenge a sense of rootedness and belonging in your characters or artistic subjects? As always, we encourage you to submit the work you produce to Stone Soup for consideration either in the magazine or on the blog. Until next time, Former Contributor Sabrina Guo Garners Recognition from President Biden Write and publish a multimedia E-book with Dr. Jiang Pu! Dr. Jiang Pu, a member of the Stone Soup family, is offering a series of ten classes on publishing a multimedia e-book on Asian/Pacific Islander American heroes in conjunction with published authors Oliver Chin and David Siller! Students will have their multimedia e-books published in the world’s first student-made AAPI online library and present at SCCL Young Author Talk Forum and lunar new year event! This is a class for highly motivated young writers who want to practice research skills, media literacy and critical thinking, multimedia creative design, and more. As we all have different learning capabilities as well as varying schedules, Dr. Pu has split the class into three different start times: every Wednesday at 4 pm PDT starting September 29 for children grades 4–7, every Friday at 4 pm PDT starting October 1 for children grades 4–7, and every Monday at 4:15 pm PDT starting October 4 for children grades 8–11. Stone Soup subscribers get $100 off with coupon “Soup100”! Selfie Contest 2021: With and Without Masks As has always been the case, we want these selfies to tell us a story. Think about how masks can both aid and make more difficult the expression of thoughts and feelings. How can you show us who you are behind the mask, and how can you build off of that image once the mask disappears, or vice versa? Get creative! Try something you’ve never thought to try before! Surprise us, and—most importantly—surprise yourself! You may submit up to four selfies: two with a mask and two without. Deadline: October 3, 2021 To submit to this contest, please visit our Submittable page. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at on our blog! Young Blogger Daniel, 10, reviewed Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. From Stone Soup September 2021 It Needs Courage! By Parwani Amiri, 16 (Herat Province, Afghanistan [Ritsona Refugee Camp, Greece]) It needs courage to build a school ! It needs courage to touch children’s hearts ! It needs courage to welcome homelessness ! It needs courage to stand with us in one line
