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“Fawn in a Clearing.” Chalk drawing by Meredith Rohrer, 10, published June 2019, illustrating “The Four Seasons” by Grace Jiang, 11. A note from Jane Levi Summer journals Last summer, William challenged our readers—adults and kids alike—to keep a summer journal. Let’s make it an annual tradition! William suggested lots of approaches: It could be a record of what you are doing, your impressions of any new experiences you are having during your break from school routines, or a place to capture your dreams. It could be the book where you think thoughts and develop them by writing them down or where you write notes on what you are reading. Perhaps it is a sketchbook. Maybe it’s a place to work on poems, fragments of writing, or even whole stories. Sometimes it could just be a central place for a to-do list, or notes to jog your memory, and a note of a new favorite recipe. It might be, like my own notebook, a combination of all those things! It’s your journal—it can be whatever you want it to be. Our message is: use the summer to make a resolution to start a journal, or enrich it if you already have one. You can use any kind of book or notebook for your journal. You probably have something already lurking around your house. Or perhaps you’ll find an inexpensive book in a local stationery store—or a fancier one at a bookstore, museum store, or somewhere you go on a  summer outing. We have a few blank and lined notebooks and sketchbooks in the Stone Soup Online Store, currently at half-price (from only $2.50) to encourage you to get started! Like last summer, if you would be willing to share a few pages with us and with your fellow Stone Soup readers, send us a photo or a scan of a few pages and we’ll feature them on our website. Submit your photos via our Bloggers category on Submittable, and use the words “Summer Journal” in your title. We look forward to learning more about what all of you are up to this summer! Store problem fixed We discovered today that our online store’s credit card processing wasn’t working properly, and we have fixed it. If you tried to purchase a subscription within the last week or so and couldn’t get the transaction through, please try again. Everything is now up and running—including our new print subscriptions delivered worldwide. We will start mailing the July/August print issues next week, so get your subscriptions set up now! This week’s featured art and poetry This week’s featured art and poem are teasers designed to encourage you to read our June 2019 issue. We loved Meredith’s beautifully worked chalk drawing of a fawn in a clearing, with shafts of light filtered through unseen trees. The fawn seems to have just noticed that we are looking at it—ears pricked, neck curved, a sidelong look. What will it do next? Will it run away? Or can we imagine it might trot toward us to feed from our outstretched hand? This apparently simple artwork really stimulates the imagination. What does it make you think and feel? Emma paired the fawn with Grace Jiang’s evocative poem about the seasons, which carries us from fall though winter, spring, and summer, and back to fall again from a woodland animal’s perspective. Perhaps, like Grace, you’ll have time over the summer to think about the natural world around you and the behavior of the animals in it as they, like you, enjoy the season and prepare for what is coming next. Happy summer, and happy journaling. As always, we cannot wait to see what you make. 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. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. Haeon Lee offers listeners a transporting clarinet trio that explores the sonic chaos of life in New York City and how it relates to the tranquility of an open sky above. Titled “Right Beneath the Clouds,” Haeon describes her inspiration thus: “Skyscrapers, bridges, Central Park, and construction outlined the melody of my piece, given to the clarinet. Shadows and overlaps between these structures formed the cello and piano parts for the first movement.” Read more and listen here. Check out Summer and Yelia’s “Balancing Technology” podcast, where they interview their school’s tech specialist and librarian on the complexities of children’s relationships with technology. They discuss technology’s impact on social development, the benefits of access to such a versatile resource, and the importance of moderation and boundary-setting. From Stone Soup June 2019 The Four Seasons By Grace Jiang, 11 Art by Meredith Rohrer, 10   A golden leaf falls on Little Deer’s nose, he jumps around playfully, “Fall has come! Fall has come!” he calls. His father bellows, “We must go find more food or the cold white sheet will bury it all!” Little Fox jumps around in the white powder, that once had millions of flowers in it. Now it is cold and wet. He whines to his mother, “I must go play with Brown Bear!” His mother whispers, “You must wait till spring.” Spring has come! Little Horse is only a month old,

“I am already breaking away, but not quite as rapidly as I would like.” Illustration by Olga Todorova, 12, for “Flying” by Margaret Bryan, 12. Published in Stone Soup March/April 2007 and The Stone Soup Book of Sports Stories (2018) A note from Emma Wood I am a runner. I usually run at least five miles six days a week, rain or shine, whether I have time or I don’t. I make the time. Or it’s more like that time doesn’t “count” to me—I have to run, so I find a way to do so. I recently ran my sixth marathon, but I didn’t really think of myself as a runner until I was training for my fourth marathon, in the spring of 2018. At some point during those four months leading up to the marathon, in the middle of what runners call a “training cycle,” I realized that running no longer felt like a chore. Ever. It was, in fact, usually the best part of my day. I love being outside in the beautiful Santa Cruz landscape, either running on trails through the forest or by the ocean. I love that it allows me to step away from my computer, from my work, from my mind, from myself, and simply be. I love running alone and with friends; I love having friends to run with; I love running with my dog, seeing her joy at simply running and trying to mirror it myself. Most of all, I love that it serves as a constant, humbling reminder that every day, I am starting over again—that it doesn’t matter how far or how fast I had run last week or last month. It is always about showing up and putting in the miles. In this way, running reminds me of writing. One of my writing teachers in college and a famous poet, Jorie Graham, once said to me, “Your next book isn’t going to write the next one for you.” I wrote her words on an index card, which I have taken with me and tacked to my bulletin board every time I’ve moved since then. Though I don’t have a published book yet, I do have a couple of manuscripts that I have been submitting and trying to publish. It is gratifying to finish a project after months after writing—just like it is gratifying to finish a marathon after months of training. But the last marathon won’t run the next one for you: you still have to lace up and put in the miles every day; every mile, whether it was hard or easy, makes you a stronger runner and brings you closer to your goal. With writing, too: you have to sit down and put in the words. Every word you write brings you one word closer to your goal. Even if you end up cutting it from the piece in revision, the writing is making you a better writer. I encourage you to try to sit down and write at least six days a week this summer. Maybe you want to write for 10 minutes. Maybe you want to write one page a day. Regardless the goal, remember it is about showing up, putting in the time, and doing the work. Anyone can be a runner, and anyone can be a writer. But you have to be willing to work. Until next time, Big news for our overseas readers – print copies now delivered worldwide! At last, we’ve done it: we are set up to deliver print issues of Stone Soup magazine all over the world! And in the process, we have managed to reduce the price for our Canadian subscribers. Whether you are in the UK, China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Korea, or anywhere in the Americas or Europe, if you have a mailbox, we can deliver Stone Soup to it. The prices are quoted in US dollars, with shipping included, by region: $89.99 a year for the USA and the UK, $119.99 for Europe and Canada, and  $129.99 a year for Asia, Australia, India and the rest of the world. Visit our online store to see all the options, and to buy your subscription today! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. Do you play the popular video game Fornite? On Monday we published a piece that discusses whether or the not the phenomenon is to dying down. See what Daniel has to say here. Lukas reflects on happiness in his post from this week: “As I thought back, I realized that in all the times where I had fun, had joy, there were people surrounding me.” Is this true for you too? Leave a comment and tell us what you think. Tara reviews the classic Ramona Quimby series of books. Why does she enjoy them so much? “Maybe it’s because author Beverly Cleary developed the characters so well in our minds, it’s as if they are your best friend. Maybe it’s because the adventures Ramona gets into are so relatable and funny.” Read more of Tara’s thoughts here. Contest and partnership news Contest: Write a Book! Why not use Emma’s writing tips to finish your entry for our summer contest? We are looking 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 15th, so you have the whole summer 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 contest page and Submittable entry page for full details. From Stone Soup March/April 2007 Flying By Margaret Bryan, 12 Illustrated by Olga Todorova,12 STARTING LINE I roll my head from side to side in an attempt to be nonchalant. My teammates look at me questioningly, and then ask, “Can we go now?” impatiently I

In this week’s newsletter, as it’s the first of the month, we focus on our new June 2019 issue. Click the links to read some of our brand new content, and scroll down for contest and other news, plus the latest from our bloggers. Cover: “Flight Through the Cosmos,” photograph by Hannah Parker, 13 In this week’s newsletter, as it’s the first of the month, we focus on our new June 2019 issue. Innocent Yet Dire Words by Isabel Swain A book lover dreaming of a better life uses poetry to cope The Place Where It Isn’t by Eliana Schaffer One girl’s quest for perfection Possibility by Vandana Ravi A magical place of serenity and beauty comes to life in a daydream  Plus–poetry, a portfolio of Hannah Parker’s photographs, a story sequence, Letters to the Editor, and our June 2019 Honor Roll Letter from the Editor, June 2019 This is an issue about potential, possibility, and change. In Isabel Swain’s story “Innocent but Dire Words,” a young poet dreams of a better future for herself, while in Vandana Ravi’s short story, a girl dreams of simply another place. In Grace Jiang’s poems, nature comes to life again, after its seasonal death and hibernation, and in Andrew Wu’s story sequence “Nature in my Eyes,” nature changes in our eyes, as we attempt to see it from the angles and experiences of different creatures. Change is inevitable: we change, the world changes, time moves along. And, in the spaces between, in the time when it feels as if nothing is changing, we dream of the change that might happen. And yet when that change finally does occur—when yet again the rose blooms—it still feels miraculous. After reading this issue, I hope you will feel inspired to think and write about change—in the world or in you, past or future, real or imagined. Letters: We love to hear from our readers. Please post a comment on our website or write to us via Submittable or editor@stonesoup.com. Your letter might be published on our occasional Letters to the Editor page. Subscribers: read the new issue here! Contests and partnership news Contest: Write a Book! Start planning 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 15th, so you have the whole summer 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 contest page and Submittable entry page for full details. Stone Soup’s books are getting some great reviews! Stone Soup joined LibraryThing a few months ago, and our books have been getting some great reviews from other members at LibraryThing and also on their own blogs. Visit our book pages and see what other readers are saying–and add your comments! Also, we have joined Goodreads! Are you on that social network? Please send a friend request our way! We also want to encourage you to leave a review any of the Stone Soup books you’ve read, like an Annual or a Stone Soup Book of . . . We’ve compiled a list of the ones listed on Goodreads here.Submit your creative work to Stone Soup 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 wondered about the clothes you wear? Where they come from and what happens to them when you no longer need them? Recently, I got very interested in learning more about clothes. It all started when I went with my mother to a clothing donation box in the parking lot of a small mall near our home.” Read the rest of Mahati’s fascinating blog post about the life cycle of clothes here. Remember Abigail’s piece about Polish traditions for spring? Well, she’s back this week, this time in Japan! Read about Hanami, the cherry blossom festival, and more in the blog post “Japanese Traditions for Spring.” Shop in the Stone Soup Store   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.