Fall Portrait (Painter Essentials 5) By Mia Fang, 13 (West Lafayette, IN), published in Stone Soup February 2020 A note from William I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I am in Belgium, land of chocolate! Yesterday, it snowed! As a native coastal Californian, I have only seen snow falling a few times in my life, so I was very excited! Big soft pieces of frozen water falling from the sky. Amazing! This snow I just experienced brings me to a belated snow-related announcement: I’d like to announce that Analise Braddock, Stone Soup artist and poet, won a prize last November in a poetry contest sponsored by the New York Botanical Garden in partnership with the Poetry Society of America. The contest was judged by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. So congratulations to you, Analise, for having your snow-related poem “Tall and Proud” selected for this award. Analise is in third grade. Tall and Proud Tall and proud they stand Up at the top the wind dances while snow gently patters down to the world Lights flicker and the snow falls bringing warmth to everyone If you listen, you can hear the skyscrapers and the snow speaking Puzzling or not puzzling they know what they are saying There they stand tall and proud This many-layered poem makes an observation well-suited to poetry: “If you listen, you can hear the skyscrapers and the snow speaking.” With this line, Analise opens up the whole idea of our built environment—whether it is skyscrapers, houses, cars, roads, anything made by us humans—communicating with the natural world. Let this thought work through your imagination. Where does this thought take you? Can your imagination take you to a place where buildings and snow can talk with each other? Can your imagination take you to a place where roads and rain have a connection? Airplanes and the sky? Your answer can certainly be “no” or “maybe.” Read Analise’s poem several times. See where her images and ideas take you, and create a story, poem, picture, or photograph of your own that deals with the intersection of nature and our built environment. Until next week, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Apple is a huge company, and it claims to have adopted eco-friendly practices. Blogger Daniel dives into these in his blog post from this week: “Is Apple Really as Green as it Seems?” Even though Daniel admits the company has made strides, he argues there’s still a lot more it can do. Have you ever enjoyed a book, even though based on the cover you thought it might be too childish? Lucinda, 13, reviews Girls Who Code: Spotlight on Coding Club and writes about how she was pleasantly surprised with the book, which dealt with tough topics like anxiety and the absence of parents. From Stone Soup February 2020 The Old Woman By Rachel Ding, 13 (Cupertino, CA) Illustrated by Mia Fang, 13 (West Lafayette, IN) Once, there was a little girl with two pigtails. She was a joy to all those around her and was constantly happy. Her backpack was a bright red, and her shoes were a colorful pink. Her small feet carried her across a new street, and she skipped and skipped her way toward a woman who wore a placid face and held a silence that even the innocent little girl could hear. The woman didn’t look up, but instead kept on raking those beautiful autumn leaves. The girl passed by with the smallest glance at the strange woman and then skipped all the way to her first day of school. At school, she learned and learned and played and played. The girl lost her pigtails and then her ponytail and finally had her hair down straight. She was one moment the happiest person on Earth, then the next moment crying through school. She was in a constant state of tears and laughter and much-regretted idleness. She stopped her skipping after a year and started running after three, for bullies ran fast. But in time, she slowed down to a walk. Her red backpack was lost and so was her green one, and at some point she had none. And finally, after all that change, winter came, and she went down the street again. She was nervously walking, tripping over her heels and carrying a stack of books. She headed toward the old woman whose face remained unchanged except for her hair, which had become grey. By then, the woman walked with a limp …/MORE 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: February 8, 2020
Reflection by Margaret Fulop, 11 (Lexington, MA), in Stone Soup February 2020 A note from Jane A few weeks ago I went to a lunchtime concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The lead performer, a viola player called Maxim Rysanov, specializes in transcriptions of Bach’s music. This means that he rewrites music originally composed for one instrument so it can be played on another one. For this concert, he had transposed Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 for viola, arranged a selection of two-part inventions from The Little Keyboard Book for viola and and violin, and rewritten the Sonata in G Major for viola da gamba and harpsichord to be played by viola and concert organ. The performance was recorded by the BBC and broadcast on Thursday as part of their lunchtime concert series. You can read more about it and listen to the recording via BBC Sounds. The music is incredibly beautiful, but my reason for mentioning it in this week’s newsletter is to suggest this idea of musical transcription as a tool you can use to develop your writing. Just as the viola player revealed another dimension of a familiar piece of cello music by transferring it from the voice of one instrument to the voice of another, so too might you discover more about your story’s characters by writing a poem about them, or writing a poem in their voice. Maybe you can understand your poem’s emotional landscape or setting by transposing it into a story or a drama. Perhaps drawing your imaginary landscape or painting a portrait of your lead character will help you to see them more clearly. We all learn that writing is often mostly about rewriting. I don’t know about you, but sometimes that feels like something I don’t really want to do—a bit of a chore. Why not try transposition as a way of coming at rewriting from a fresh perspective? You might not use your transposition in the final work, but you might create a whole new work to sit alongside the original one. Either way, you can hit the refresh button and have fun trying! Until next time, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Sascha, 13, reviews Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me on the blog this week. Read the review to find out why Sascha “would unquestionably recommend this novel to anyone that is interested in gaining a higher perspective of people from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.” Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? Matthew gives us some background about Rubik’s Cubes on the blog this week, plus an easy method that you can try. From Stone Soup February 2020 The Creases of Time By Tara Prakash, 12 (Chevy Chase, MD) Time—did it slip through my fingers, flow Subtly as water? My little big brother, Running across the pastures with his kite, where did that go? Footsteps trailing mine, hands clasped tightly—my mother. I can see the time pass in the creases of my Grandfather’s eyes, his skin lined with the trick of time. If only It wouldn’t go so fast, then we wouldn’t need to say so many goodbyes All too soon. If just once, my world could live forever . . . But if all worlds lasted forever, when Would new ones be born? Babies gaze at the world with big eyes, bright, Seeing things they’ve never seen before. The old watch with Eyes that have seen too much, the pale that follows a dark night. Time forces us to make use of what we have, unfurled, It forces us to say goodbye and hello to the ever-changing world. 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.
Saturday Newsletter: February 1, 2020
The Tower of Toronto by Justine Chu, 12 (Fremont, CA) Published in the February 2020 issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma This week, I am writing to announce the winners of our Personal Narrative Contest with the Society of Young Inklings (SYI). Naomi and I were both so honored to read these submissions as well as grateful for the big and small ways these writers let us into their minds and hearts. Writing nonfiction seems easy—you don’t have to make anything up!—but it is not. Personal narratives require honesty, deep thought and reflection, the ability to see patterns and narratives in past events, as well as the capacity to accept that sometimes there are no patterns or narratives—just the events themselves. Like all writing, they also require an eye for detail, an ear for language, and an aptitude for play. In her winning narrative, Kateri Escober Doran vividly recounts a sharp memory from a day in kindergarten, seamlessly blending evocative storytelling with thoughtful reflection. In second place, with “Swirling Arabesques,” Zoe Kyriakakis meditates on a single phrase while on the bus home from school—showing us how even the smallest moments can become meaningful and beautiful in the writer’s hands. Finally, in third place, with her narrative “Gratitude,” Alicia Xin gives a moving account of the summer she spent in a historically poor county in rural China. First Place “Locked out of Kindergarten” by Kateri Escober Doran, 12 Second Place “Swirling Arabesques” by Zoe Kyriakakis, 10 Third Place “Gratitude” by Alicia Xin, 13 Honorable Mention “Cody’s Last Day” by Elena Baltz, 10 “A Story” by Asher Jenvey, 10 “Life in the Jungle” by Arielle Kouyoumdjian, 13 “Writer” by Vandana Ravi, 13 “Believing” by Lily Shi, 11 “Kingdom in the River” by Lydia Taylor, 13 “Gentle Hands” by Michelle Wang, 12 We are excited to share these pieces with you in a future issue. We say this every time, but every time it is truer and truer: it was so difficult to select winners and finalists for this contest. A sincere thank you to everyone who trusted us with their work.We are thrilled to be reading personal narrative submissions year-round. Please scroll down to read Ugochinyere Agbaeze’s narrative, published in the February 2020 issue, below for writing inspiration this weekend. When you’re ready, submit your personal narrative here. Until next week, Contest update & a note to artists We are already starting to plan for our next book contest—it will launch this summer! Stay tuned. And also: calling all artists! Our art submissions are always open, and it’s free to submit. We currently have a backlog of animal images and are actively looking for images of landscapes, people, and objects as well as images that have a more abstract character like this, this, or this. The more abstract an image is, the easier it is to pair with a poem or a story since it often is capturing an idea or a mood rather than a specific scene. Submit your art here. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Have you ever had a friend who challenged you to try new things? In his blog post “Charlie,” Daniel tells us about his friend who has inspired him to “unleash his inner rebel.” Though he’s gotten some scratches along the way, Daniel has found himself enjoying adventures with Charlie that he wouldn’t have tried otherwise. How much do you know about the Rosetta Stone, the Sutton Hoo Helmet, and the Elgin Marbles? New blogger Mohan traces the history of these three cultural artifacts in “What Can We Learn About History from Objects?” From Stone Soup February 2020 Alone By Ugochinyere Agbaeze, 11 (New York, NY) Illustrated by Justine Chu, 12 (Fremont, CA) Boom! Crackle! It was dark and rainy, and as the clouds cried, lightning flashed through the sky like a gun being fired. The sky darkened. But in our school bus, there were always rays of sunshine. Our school bus wasn’t really a school bus, but more like a van. That didn’t really bother me and my friends, because we were always busy doing things to pass time. We did things together, like homework, or played truth or dare, or even watched movies on my friend’s phone. But like always, people would start to get dropped off and disappear like cookies from the cookie jar until it was just me and my friend Gabby. “Don’t you ever get lonely when it’s only you on the van?” Gabby asked. “Sometimes, but not really,” I said. But inside I knew that I was always lonely when it was just me. She looked at me with her eyebrows up in her questioning way, like she was searching for what I was really feeling. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked me again. “Yes, I’m okay. Really, I am,” I said reassuringly. We stopped in front of her house, and as she was about to leave she said, “Well, I’ll see you Monday. Bye!” “Bye,” I said as she shut the door. As we were leaving, I looked through the window and saw her bright polka-dot umbrella open up and bloom like a flower as she walked toward her building. …/MORE 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.
