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“The car rounded a bend, and there was the city, stretched out before us.” Illustrator Thomas Buchanan, 13,  for ‘Firework City’ by Jem Burch, 13, Published July/August 2013. A note from Jane Levi Happy Fourth of July weekend to our American subscribers! We have a story about July 4 fireworks for you this week, accompanied by a really wonderful illustration with beautiful use of color and perspective. It’s filled with so much detail (spot the license plate!), and I love the way you can see the excited kids in the back of the car through the rear window. If you didn’t see any fireworks this week, then we hope you enjoy these ones! New website and subscription system Our big news this week is that a new version of our website has gone live, with a brand new subscription-ordering system. Stonesoup.com still has all the same great content, but it has a fresh new look and feel, which we hope you will like as much as we do. This is the very first step in a series of improvements to our website, and we know there are a lot of basic things to iron out. But we also have a lot of plans for future improvements. We always welcome your ideas, and we’ll carefully consider any that you send us. You can reply to this newsletter, or send a message to us at stonesoup@stonesoup.com. Our new ordering system is an important step for us because we want everyone to have a subscription to Stone Soup! We have made it much, much easier to order a Stone Soup subscription (monthly or annual, print + digital or digital only) and made sure that all the details you need are right there on our website. For now, back issues of the print magazine and our books are still in our old online store (which you can get to via the pink button below), but those will also be moving in to the new store over the summer. We’ll keep you posted. Existing subscribers will need to reset their passwords. If you click the login button on the top menu, then enter your old user ID (which is your email address), you will be able to follow the prompts to reset your password. Summer Journals How are your summer journals going? I have to confess that I have not stuck to my resolution to keep one—yet. But I am going to join William in Kenya next week, and there will be no more excuses once I am there! We’ll give you all an update about that trip when we are back, especially with news from Remot Primary, the school that we wrote about a few weeks ago. We were so delighted that several of you were able to send us some really magnificent science books to deliver to them, and we know the headmaster, his staff, and the kids will be thrilled. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful holiday weekend, a great summer wherever you are, and keep on creating and sending us anything you’re especially pleased with using the submit button below and on our website. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. Because of the website updates, no new blog posts for this week. Stay tuned for exciting posts scheduled for next week, and in the meantime, check out our social media! Our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook will keep you updated with the latest from Stone Soup, plus feature fun throwbacks and links to websites and resources for young writers. Remember to tag us or use the hashtag #stonesoupmagazine if you post about Stone Soup on social media! We love seeing your photos and reading your thoughts. Contest and partnership news Contest: write a book! How are your books coming along? You still have more than a month to polish up your work to enter into our contest for book-length writing in all forms and genres by kids aged 14 and under. (We have extended our usual age limit for this contest.) The deadline for entries is August 15, so you have five-and-a-half weeks left to work on perfecting your book, whether it is a novel, a collection of poetry or short stories, a memoir, or other prose. There will be three placed winners, and we will publish all three winning books in various forms. Visit our Submittable entry page for full details. From Stone Soup July/August 2017 Firework City By Jem Burch, 13 Illustrated by Thomas Buchanan, 13 I took a seat in the metal rocking chair outside my grandparents’ loft, gently swaying back and forth. Through the metal bars of the railing, I saw the grand old church below, small yellow lights illuminating the stained-glass windows. A light breeze blew; stars twinkled high above; the church parking lot was empty and silent, save for the single, glossy bulk of a black car lurking in the shadows. But all around there was noise—the booming explosion of fireworks bursting through the cracks in the wall, echoing in my ears like the distant rumble of thunder in a summer storm. I sighed, staring at the horizon where a dark cloud of smoke pulsated from the light of the fireworks I could not see. It seemed as though we weren’t going to have a true Fourth of July this year. “Liam, time to go,” Dad called, and I stood up, casting one last wistful glance at the disappointingly blank skyline. We bid a quick farewell to my grandparents, wishing them a happy Fourth, and then trooped down the staircase to the ground floor. No one spoke. Everyone seemed to understand that we had missed the celebration. As we were getting in the car, my younger sister Amy asked aloud, “Where are the fireworks?” “You see those buildings?” Mom said. “If they weren’t there, we might be able to see them. They’re over by the freeway.” The car pulled out into the street, and we started home. “I’m going to take

“A Hardship” by Alice Guo, 12. Published April 2019. A note from Sarah Ainsworth Happy weekend! I am fortunate to be spending this summer in a place I have never lived before: Los Angeles. It’s been an interesting few weeks adjusting to the rhythms of a new city, walking through landscapes that are familiar but that I can’t quite place, and learning contradictions particular to the city. Living in this new place has gotten me thinking about how to describe a place through stories, poetry, or art. Stone Soup has published countless pieces of writing and art that expertly represent a place in so many creative ways. Take a look through our “Sense-of-Place” tag to explore some examples. Re-reading Maya Vilaplana’s story “My City,” from our March/April 2005 issue, I am struck by how well Maya articulates the feeling of growing to love a place: “But I know that there are different kinds of beauty in the world. There is the natural beauty, that one can’t help but recognize, and there is the beauty that you grow to love and live with. The kind that settles in your heart, never to leave. Once you have seen a different place, once you have been a city girl, nothing will ever be the same. It’s like when you go to Japan, and when you get back, no sushi can satisfy you because you’ve had the very best.” How would you describe the place that you are right now? The city, state, country, or even just the street? It’s also worthwhile to think about your unique relationship to a place. How might your background inform how you understand a place? And how would it differ from someone who just moved there, or someone who has lived there for a hundred years? If you feel inspired to create something, remember to submit at the link below. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. Sage Millen, 11, composed and performed “Symphony in C Major” on the piano for this week’s blog. She intrigued us by revealing, “My piece has a lot of hidden scales and triads in it.” Musicians, can you make out the scales and triads hiding within? Listen here on SoundCloud. Watch seven-year-old Myzah de Guzman’s video, “The Little Whale,” that she created with the help of her brother, Mazen. A young whale comes upon a treasure chest filled with gold. What a find! It’s not long, though, before the gold slips through her fins . . . Contest reminder: write a book!   Summer is prime time to work on your entry for our summer contest: book-length writing in all forms and genres by kids aged 14 and under. (We have extended our usual age limit for this contest.) The deadline for entries is August 15, so you have two whole months to keep working on perfecting your book, whether it is a novel, a collection of poetry or short stories, a memoir, or other prose. There will be three placed winners, and we will publish all three winning books in various forms. Visit our contest page and Submittable entry page for full details. 25% discount on Stone Soup books through the end of June Summer vacation is a great time for reading, and our series of themed anthologies (the Stone Soup Books of…) are a great place to start. Don’t just take our word for it: we’ve been getting some great reviews at Good Reads, LibraryThing and Amazon! We’re offering a discount code for all of the Stone Soup Books of… that is valid through June 30 in our online store. Enter the code READSUMMER19 for 25% off your purchases.   From Stone Soup April 2019 A Trip to Paris? By Claire Rinterknecht, 13 Illustration: “A Hardship” by Alice Guo, 12 I visited the Shugakuin Imperial Villa on the last day of my trip. The garden is situated in the hills of the eastern suburbs of Kyoto. Tangerine, magenta, and gold maple leaves glided down and settled on calm water like peaceful raindrops. The smudged greens and oranges of the foliage and the shadow of the rounded stone bridge merged on the pond to create a rainbow. The harmonic gong of a bell brought my gaze to a little scarlet-and-white pagoda. Its upturned roof corners and nine-tiered tower made it easily recognizable. For Buddhists, each tier on the pagoda’s tower represents one of nine levels of heaven. The scent of pond weed and lilies drifted up on the damp breeze. Camera snaps and elevated tourist chatter reminded me that I did not belong there. Box shrubs clustered around the edge of the pebble path. Behind them were the famous Japanese cherry blossom trees. And, every once in a while, bonsai also twisted and curled. Bonsai symbolize harmony and balance. They are grown with purposeful imperfection and the asymmetrical triangle used for their design symbolizes a continuation of life. Japan was definitely worth the trip. It was a little frightening at first to walk around in Kyoto, so I suggest you use the subways until you get the hang of the streets. I found the Japanese were varied in their reception of an English tourist. Some grinned hugely at my accent and were willing to try to understand me, but some got annoyed at my lack of vocabulary and avoided me. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly encourage you to plan a trip to Japan and to make sure you have the Shugakuin Imperial Villa at the top of your “to do” list! Matthew set down his quill and stared at his ink-stained fingers. He thought about how Blossom would have loved the Imperial Villa. Shaking his head as if to rid himself of the thought, he placed the leaves of cream paper in a brown envelope and wrote: Travel column: Japan by Matthew Stevens For: The Daily Telegraph He plucked his hat off its hook and shrugged on his green corduroy coat. His scuffed, battered briefcase in one hand, and the rattling doorknob in the other, he let himself out of the flat. . . ./more Stone

Girls outside one of the classrooms at Remot School, Westgate, Samburu District, Kenya, April 2019. A note from William Rubel Summer birthdays . . . Getting older is a very strange process. My daughter, Stella, is turning 13 in a few weeks. I will be turning 67 a few days later. In many ways we are both experiencing changes in our bodies and in the way we think that are noticeably profound. For myself, I have known for years and years that I am the person who always does at least one thing too many. Whatever the situation, I always go beyond the obvious place to stop. In terms of what I can manage, I have certainly reached my limit! I won’t list all the projects that I am in the midst of! But I am for the first time becoming comfortable with this trait. Partnership with a Kenyan school As regular newsletter readers know, I have been doing research into the foods, customs, and lives of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I have been doing this for the last 25 years. Along with my Kenyan friend, Haile Selassie Lesetho, and my partner, who you also know through Stone Soup, we have created the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, a place that people can visit to study the effects that climate change and globalization are having on the culture of the Samburu. Traditionally pastoralists—in Biblical terms the children of Abel—the modern world is closing in on the Samburu and their culture is rapidly changing. There is a need to carefully document what remains so we can remember how they lived before they become just like us, people who live in permanent houses with Wi-Fi, credit cards, and jobs in offices rather than people who live entirely off of their cows, goats, camels, and sheep. Our research station is developing a relationship with a local school—Remot Primary School—which serves pupils of elementary, middle, and high school age. The school’s headmaster, our friend Boniface Nakori, has asked whether we can get science books for his school. Jane and I have both visited his school and told you about our attendance at the opening of a new classroom earlier this year. It is in a beautiful place located near Lengusaka, but it lacks so many things we take granted in our schools—like, there are very few books! Books are used and used and used until they fall apart. Books are so scarce and valuable that they are locked up in a trunk! Boniface has asked me to ask you to please donate books about science for his students. What he needs is anything. Honestly. From Little Golden Books to the lovely DK series on science subjects, and everything in between. Books about insects, snakes, trees, the human body, the stars, dinosaurs—anything at any grade level and in any condition will be used and read over and over and over again by teachers and students who want to learn. Primary education is mandatory, and most (but not all) children get at least some schooling. But their life is hard, and it is not uncommon to have a child who is 14 in fourth grade. The land is dying, and the children are not going to be able to live as their parents have. The difference between living a life of urban poverty or joining the fast-growing Kenyan middle class depends on getting educated. I can tell you that these are motivated, smart, excited students, but without books it is very very hard to make it all the way to a university. The boy whose picture I am sharing with you here is holding a container for milk. His house is in the background. This student is typical of the students at the school I am asking you to help with books. Not a single student in the school lives in a house like we do. They live in small circular huts made out of sticks that are not tall enough for an adult to stand up in. There is no electricity, so there is no light at night, as this school serves families who don’t have enough money for a solar light. On behalf of this boy and his friends, Boniface the headmaster, and all of us at the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, we thank you for whatever books you can send. If you don’t have books to send but would like us to buy books on your behalf, then please click on the Stone Soup website’s Donate button, note that your donation is for Samburu Books, and we will will purchase appropriate books for the school. (We will let you know which books and when they are delivered.) We are hoping, over time, that the Remot students will start writing a science blog for Stone Soup. We have our first university group arriving at the research station in early July, so Jane and I will be flying to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, to meet them on July 4. We will take with us any books that you can send our way before July 2. Please write to Jane to confirm the address they should be sent to. Thank you. William’s Weekend Project Which brings me (finally!) to today’s project: science and art. We have talked about science fiction in previous newsletters. I’d like to talk of other ways you might incorporate science into something you write or draw this weekend. To save your email inboxes after this long message, I’ve posted the activity idea to our website here. Do take a look, and if you are ever stuck for something to do this summer, check out our activities pages for some more creative ideas! As always, send what you come up with from this activity or any other projects to our editor, Emma Wood, via our Submit button, so she can consider it for Stone Soup. 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. This week on the blog, four-year-old Prisha Gandhi records a cheerful song she wrote on a rainy day.