About

“What she saw brought her to an immediate standstill and robbed her of every ounce of her breath.” Illustration by Megan Snide, 13 (Dublin, Ohio), published in Stone Soup September/October 2009, illustrating “Building the Pyramids” by Timmi Ruth Kline, 11 (Jones, Oklahoma). A note from William Rubel Our best to you all for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year! Thank you to those of you who have contributed to our 2019 Annual Drive! Your support is appreciated. I am writing this from London on Christmas evening after a very long and lovely dinner at Jane’s brother’s house. We had a feast! Of course! But, at some point during the meal my friend Augustine who is a Samburu Kenyan blacksmith with four wives and 19 children—yes, there are different cultures—texted me that his family were in the midst of slaughtering 73 goats for a massive feast. Think of that! A feast for an extended family that is so large that it takes 73 goats to feed it. Jane and I are leaving London tomorrow for Cairo where on Saturday, when you are reading this newsletter, we will be visiting the pyramids—so Jane suggested we feature “Building the Pyramids,” a story from Stone Soup published in 2016. The story opens with a well-imagined and historically accurate image—that of “the smell of hot bread”—rising to “Lomea’s nostrils.” While the Great Pyramid, built 4,500 years ago, was built of stone, it is also possible to say that it was built with bread as bread (and beer) were the standard wages for pyramid workers. Timmi Ruth did a very good job researching the historical period of her story. But also to her credit, she doesn’t let her historic research dominate the piece. In fact, like the best writers working in the area of historical fiction, her story is engaging and is supported by research, but not dominated by it. I have recently been listening to lectures by the American author Joyce Carol Oates. Her advice for those of you interested in writing historical fiction is to sketch out the the story—and even go a long way toward writing it—before doing the research into the historic period you have set your story in. This Is good advice. Your job as a writer of fiction is tell a story. Joyce Carol Oates says historical accuracy is important because if you get your details wrong—like having characters in Medieval Italy eating pasta with tomato sauce, which would be before there were tomatoes in Europe—it undermines people’s faith in your story. On the other hand, when you are writing your story, it is unlikely to really matter what was served for dinner. So if I understand what Joyce Carol Oates is saying, look up what people ate or what they wore and other details like that after you have written your compelling story. In a sense, in this approach to writing historical fiction the historic research is part of the finishing up and rewriting. Now, every author is different, so this is not an absolute rule. But I think it is advice that keeps you, as an author, focused on your job, which is storytelling, and leaves the writing up of deep historical research to historians. If you enjoy historical fiction, then I suggest reading our Stone Soup Book of Historical Fiction. And of course, as always, if you have a work of historical fiction already written, please submit it to Stone Soup so editor Emma Wood can consider it for the magazine. And if you have something in the works, upload it to our submissions page when you are done. Until next year! There are only a few more days left in 2019. Finish the year by joining our group of donors and supporters! We are proud of all the kids whose work we publish in our magazine, our books, and on our website, and we are proud of the work we do at Stone Soup to publish and promote children’s creative work. When you give to Stone Soup, you become a publisher of writing and art by kids right alongside us. Our first issue was published in 1973, and 46 years later Stone Soup is still here. We remain as excited about children’s creative work now as we were then, and as committed as ever to making sure the voices of those under 14 are heard. Join us to support the kids of today in their creative journey. You can read more about our 2019 fundraising target and key projects on our website’s Donate page, and help us even more by sharing the link with others. Thank you! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Abhi, 11, reviews The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. Read why Abhi says the author wants you to figure the book’s setting out on your own, and why Abhi was disappointed by parts of the book. Looking for something to spend your holiday money on? Maybe the gift you want to give yourself is a Stone Soup subscription or book! Monthly and yearly subscriptions to Stone Soup magazine are available at our website, while all our books are available at our separate online store. There are nine Stone Soup Books of . . . to choose from: over 1,800 pages of short stories and poems by young authors, a treasure trove of reading material. The 2019 Annual (all 458 pages of it!) is also in stock, along with the last few copies of the 2017 and 2018 Annuals. Take advantage of the special ongoing holiday discounts we have on both groups of books: Buy the brand new Stone Soup Book of Science Fiction at full price ($10); get any other anthologies for just $6.50 each. Buy one Stone Soup Annual 2019 at full price ($34.99); get $10 off 2018 and $15 off 2017. These discounts will be automatically applied in our online store while stocks last. You can also buy all our books at Amazon (at full price). If you buy at Amazon, please consider making Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup Inc. your selected Amazon Smile charity. What she saw

“Bowl of Joy” by Ethan Hu, 8 (San Diego, CA) published in Stone Soup December 2019 A thank you from William Before we get into the usual newsletter, I wanted to say thank you on behalf of all of us to everyone who has already donated to our annual fundraising drive. We have been overwhelmed by your generosity this year, especially your response to our ongoing refugee project and outreach programs. We are excited about our special issue next year—made possible by your donations—and all the other great projects we will be able to work on thanks to you, our supporters. Click here to read more about our plans, and below if you want to donate—and thank you. A note from Jane Levi What is your favorite holiday decoration? Ethan Hu’s lovely painting of a bowl of baubles in our December issue reminds me of something my mother often does at Christmastime. She says it’s a festive way of displaying some of her prettiest ornaments when there isn’t enough room for all of them on the tree. My own preference is to hang a crazy selection of the baubles I have picked up over time. I like to find something new every year (my decorations do not follow a tasteful, pre-planned color scheme), and the sillier the better! I’m very fond of a food-related decoration and was thrilled to find a half-shell oyster, complete with pearl, on a visit to New Orleans last month. It looks great with the sliced red onino and brussels sprout I picked up in California in 2017, and the giant Christmas pudding my friend bought for me in London last year. My favorite,and the crowning glory, though, isn’t a bauble at all. It’s the handmade fairy I found in Antigua, in the Caribbean. She must be almost 20 years old by now, but she doesn’t look it to me. She sparkles with stars around her head and ankles, in her sweet little golden dress and her net wings. Whenever I see her I know it’s really Christmas. What aspect of your home’s Holiday traditions make you feel like it’s really that time of year again? Is it the smell of the tree or a special food, the look of the decorations, the songs you sing, the people you bring together, a walk you take, or a game you always play? Whatever it is, we hope you enjoy it this year, and that if you have a quiet moment to appreciate it, savor it, and turn it into a piece of art (written or visual), that perhaps you’ll share it with us. Happy holidays everyone! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Abhi reviews the classic movie Lawrence of Arabia, from 1962. Read why Abhi thinks he could “see it fifty times and I would still not be bored with it.” On Wednesday, we published another part in Marco’s series on science fiction. Read ““Deus Ex Machina and the Power of Plot Convenience” to learn more about the concept of Deus Ex Machina, plus Marco’s tips about how to avoid it in your writing. Subscriptions make great last-minute gifts! Looking for a last-minute gift? Look no further! A subscription to Stone Soup magazine is the gift that keeps on giving all year long! Every subscription includes digital access, which starts immediately. And all subscriptions purchased in December will begin with the January issue, which will ship by the end of December. What could be better to brighten up the first few weeks of the new year than the arrival of the fantastic January 2020 issue of Stone Soup? If you are not sure you want to invest in a whole year’s subscription, opt for a smaller taste of Stone Soup. You can sign up for month-by-month payment and cancel at any time or order a single issue from our online store, where you can also order our Annual or any other books for delivery after the holidays. From Stone Soup December 2019 Colored pencils A Christmas Poem By Gianna Guerrero, 7 (Ontario, NY) Santa Claus is always on schedule If he misses, a piece of snow The wind will blow, blow, blow! That sled of his will set a trail Of a wish and a blow through the wind Those rooftops are The ones that clickety tock Some have branches tall and wide Others have so many thunks and clunks of presents Down, down, down the clattering 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.  

“A Glimpse of Winter” by Hannah Parker, 13 (South Burlington, VT), published in Stone Soup December 2019 A note from William Rubel For our adult readers Firstly, I’d like to thank those of you who have so far given to our Annual Fundraising Drive. Your vote of confidence in us is much appreciated. Thank you. Donations are a huge help to us. Like most cultural organizations the basic charges–like the entrance fee, ticket price, or in our case, subscription revenue–don’t fully cover our budgets. The bulk of our income–and the way we further our nonprofit purpose–comes from selling subscriptions to Stone Soup, and through selling books by kids. By and for children. That is what Stone Soup is all about. Empowering children to read and to be creative by publishing the best work by their peers. Books make the best gifts Our newest anthology, The Stone Soup Book of Science Fiction is shipping now! This brings the number of Stone Soup anthologies to 9: over 1800 pages of short stories and poems by young authors; treasure trove of reading material. The 2019 Annual (all 458 pages of it!) is also shipping as I write. Take advantage of the special holiday discounts we have on both groups of books: -Buy the Stone Soup Book of Science Fiction at full price ($10); get any other anthologies for just $6.50 each. -Buy one Stone Soup Annual 2019 at full price ($34.99); get $10 off 2018 and $15 0ff 2017. These discounts will be automatically applied in our Online Store while stocks last. You can also buy all our books on Amazon (at full price). If you buy on Amazon, please consider making Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc. your selected Amazon Smile charity. Please also keep Stone Soup subscriptions in mind for the Holidays. Monthly and Yearly Subscriptions are available at our website. And now–on to the main subject of today’s Newsletter! For everyone–William’s Weekend Project The story we are featuring today, “There Goes the Sun,” from the current issue of Stone Soup includes a recording of the story read by the author, Phoebe Donovan. The recording is a really fine one and joins the many other audio files posted to the Stone Soup SoundCloud account. I encourage more of you to explore this treasure trove of spoken word and musical compositions by Stone Soup’s authors and composers. I haven’t mentioned young composers for some time. Your compositions are always welcome. There is a submission category for music on the Submissions page. Phoebe’s “There Goes the Sun” includes passages of incredible intensity. I call your attention in particular to the opening scene in the subway car. This is a brilliant evocation of the sensation of sitting in a subway, bus, car, train, airplane, where you are at once very present–registering every detail of your surroundings–and at the same time your mind is wandering. And, when you get up and leave the vehicle you were in to re-enter the world, you are often in an in-between state. The word for this is a “liminal” state: not exactly here, and not exactly there. This is how Phoebe captures this moment: He wobbled off the subway and into daylight. The sun against his skin felt like an electrical shock. How was it that he felt so weak and vulnerable? The strength of Phoebe’s writing is her ability to make her characters seem real through brilliantly imagined feelings–bodily feelings and emotional feelings. I don’t want to say more about “There Goes the Sun” because I don’t want to give the premise or the unfolding events away. Read it for yourself. And then, I’d like you to write a story that brings a character to an in-between state. A liminal state. The classic liminal state that we all experience is when we may be falling asleep or waking up but are experiencing a feeling of being neither asleep or awake! Or, there are often points in relationships when you are becoming friends or stopping being friends where you might not really be sure–are you friends? Yes? No? Something in between? Some of you reading the Newsletter are tweens (an official label that more than hints at in-betweenness!), and feeling that you are not quite a kid but also not quite a teenager. I want you to think about this “in-between” idea, and then incorporate it into a story or a poem. When you are happy with something, you know where to send it. We look forward to reading it. 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! On Monday, we posted a review by Arielle, 13, of Langston Hughes’s poem “Dreams” (which you can read here). She discusses how Hughes expertly uses repetition and metaphors to make the short poem meaningful. Then on Thursday, Keshav reviewed E. B. White’s classic children’s book The Trumpet of the Swan. Keshav writes: “With elements of humor, suspense, and realistic imagery, The Trumpet of the Swan is a classic that many people will easily relate to and that you just can’t read too many times.” Read the rest of the review here. Personal Narrative Contest Closes Tomorrow! Are you ready to submit your entry? Get it in before tomorrow’s closing date! Read more on our contest page, and submit at the link here. Winners will be announced in early 2020. And remember, everyone has access to the free series of tips for improving your writing, made specially for this contest by our partners at the Society of Young Inklings. The video series and the tips for revision are helpful for this contest and for writing projects in general. Nikon Coolpix L830 From Stone Soup December 2019 There Goes the Sun By Phoebe Donovan, 11 (Boulder, CO) Robin stared at the orange plaid subway seat across from him, thinking about his father. How he always liked listening to “Yellow Submarine.” How after all that Robin had been through, his dad’s favorite song was still played all across the world.