Tiger by Morris Hirschfield, 1940. On display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A note from Emma Wood It is still 2019, but by the time you read this, it will be 2020—so happy new year! I have spent the holiday visiting with my family—my parents as well as my brother, his wife, and my newborn nephew—in my hometown, New York City. This morning, my husband and I braved the freezing rain for a trip to see the recently renovated Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We saw many old favorites as well as some new pieces that the renovation had created room for. I am not sure whether this painting, Tiger, by Morris Hirshfield, was previously on display or not, but this time I was really struck by it (as well as by his other paintings). I love the tiger’s expressive, strangely human face, which seems simultaneously fierce and curious, as well as his long, plump body. I love the cloud-striped sky that echoes the black stripes on the tiger’s coat. And I especially love the three birds perched in the tree in the bottom-left corner. This is obviously not a realistic depiction of a tiger in a landscape, and I love it for that reason; it is playful and funny while also being complex and serious. I love it for another reason: it reminds me of some of the art we see submitted to Stone Soup. Morris Hirshfield, the painter, was what is known as an “outsider artist.” This means that he had no formal training as an artist. In fact, before he began to paint, Hirshfield owned a business that manufactured women’s clothing and another company that made slippers! Outsider artists have a special kinship with child artists as many children begin making art without any formal training or at least without much knowledge about the history of art. It is helpful and very valuable to eventually learn the history of your field, but working without that knowledge can also be freeing—and mean your own work is more unusual and distinctive. I hope this painting will inspire you to go create something similarly strange, striking, and beautiful. 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! Calliope, 10, reviews Alex Gino’s book George. Read how Calliope immediately fell in love with the book and how the story features similarities to E.B. White’s classic Charlotte’s Web. A video on the blog this week! Caitlin Goh, 13, created a movie from the photos and videos she took while on vacation to the beaches in Normandy, France, where D-Day took place during World War II. Watch the video on the blog here or on our YouTube channel here. Contest, partnership, & project news We are excited to read through your submissions to our personal narrative contest and are gearing up for a photography contest as well as our second annual book contest in 2020. Stay tuned! From Stone Soup January 2020 The life of a ghost By Mazzi Maycotte, 10 (Austin TX) to go to school I cross 2 rivers, 1 lake, a pond, 1 mountain, and 2 hills then I raise my hand but no one calls on me I ask a question and no one answers me Why oh why do I have the life of a Ghost Read this poem (and more from the January issue) 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: December 28, 2019
“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
Saturday Newsletter: December 21, 2019
“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.
