Newsletter

“Heather, come here, quick! I found something!”` Illustrator Zoe Paschkis, 12 for Edward’s Treasure by Emily Taylor, 11. Published July/August 2000. For the adults: thank you for reading and sharing our free weekly Newsletter We are very happy that so many of you read and enjoy our newsletter every week. As a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit it is our mission to inspire as many kids as we can to read, write, paint, draw, and build all kinds of creativity into their lives and their learning. Our free weekly newsletter is a big part of how we do that. All of our work is funded through subscriptions and donations. We depend on both. If you don’t have a subscription to StoneSoup.com (or even if you do!), please consider making a donation, however small, as a one-off or a regular commitment, to the Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc. This year, we had to stop compensating contributors. Our current goal is to get to a place where we are once again able to pay our young writers and artists. Every dollar helps us to continue and expand what we do, and to continue to inspire and stimulate the kids you care about. Thank you William Rubel (President),      Emma Wood (Editor),      Jane Levi (Operations) Donate to Stone Soup A note from William Rubel Blogs and Book Reviews We are very happy with the quality of book reviews being published at our website. We are also very happy with the work being produced by our young bloggers. It’s great to see how productive both groups are being over the summer, too. Thank you! Keep up the great work! And readers, keep reading and commenting! You can get straight to both categories of material by clicking on the menu bar at the Stone Soup homepage. The quality of the book reviews and blogs is on a par with what we are publishing the magazine. What is the difference? Stone Soup is a literary magazine focused on fiction, poetry, and art. We look to the blogs for a much wider range of genres, and for more book reviews than we can publish in the magazine. We only really have room for one book review (at most) per issue of Stone Soup, but our book-hungry readers encouraged us to publish more. We listened, and you now have an active book review section in the blog portion of the website, covering the latest books as well as new reviews of some of the classics we have missed in the past (see below for a link to the latest Harry Potter review, published this past week!). There is always room for more. If any of you reading this newsletter would like to join us as a book reviewer or a blogger then go to the Submit link on our website and follow the instructions. Anyone age 13 and under is eligible to become one of our young bloggers or reviewers. If you are an adult and write about (or would like to write about) teaching the creative arts to kids then we also want to hear from you. As you see when you go to the blog landing page and scroll down to the lower part of the screen, we now have a section specifically for educators. As of today, the whole blog section of the website can be read for free. We are, however, beginning the technical process of bringing the blogs and book reviews into the Stone Soup online gateway. In English, this means you will soon have to subscribe to Stone Soupto read the full range of blogs and book reviews. We will let you know when this is coming into effect. Until next week       Read the latest updates on our blog Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers, published this week at stonesoup.com! Young Bloggers Hidden in Plain Sight, by Maia H and Juan H-C, confronts the issue of racism in a powerfully direct way, using graphic art as the medium. Zoe’s Summer Crumble, by Sarah Cymrot, brings alive the taste of summer and gives readers a great recipe to try—send us your pictures of your own crumble! Luxi and Miola: The New Girl, by Hana Greenberg, is the latest installment in hre graphic novel series about two sisters. Catch up with earlier episodes on the blog, too. Summer Journal 2018, by Abhi Sukhdial, shares the first two pages of the journal of his 10-week-long family visit to northern India. Be inspired to send us your summer journals, too! Young Reviewers Front Desk, by Kelly Yang, reviewed by Nina Vigil. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling, reviewed by Kaya Simcoe. “Heather, come here, quick! I found something!”` From Stone Soup July/August 2000 Edward’s Treasure By Emily Taylor, 11 Illustrated by Zoe Paschkis, 12 It was only a quick walk to Murphy’s Woods from Anjeli’s backyard where Heather and Anjeli had been enjoying the hot July day, so they soon reached the edge of the woods. Instinctively, Heather grabbed her friend’s hand as they stepped onto the dirt path that led through the woods. It was considerably cooler under the shade of the tall oaks. The two girls kicked through the clumps of dark, damp leaves while chattering to each other. Soon, Heather forgot her first fears and joined Anjeli in skipping in between the trees and turning over the many rocks that lined their path. “Anj, I bet I can do fifteen cartwheels in a row!” “Let me see you try, girl!” Heather proceeded to try, but on the seventh, she slammed hard into the trunk of two oaks that had grown together. “Ow!” “You OK, Heather?” asked her friend, hurrying to her side. Heather pulled herself up on a branch of the tree mass. But before she could even dust the leaves off her shorts, Anjeli pushed her aside. “Hey!” said Heather indignantly, from the ground. “Oh my God…” “What, Anj?” “Heather, come here, quick! I found something!” Heather scrambled to her feet. Slowly, Anjeli reached down into a

Freedom, that’s what pushed out of me on that day Illustrator Sofia deGraff-Ford, 13 for Me, Myself, and My Personality by Simon Gonzalez, 11. Published March/April 2006. A note from William Rubel I am back from Kenya! Wow! It is very difficult to explain what a totally different place I have been. Before I tell one story from my trip, about commissioning a house for $80, I’d like first to call your attention to the incredibly dynamic illustration of a roller coaster rider that my colleague, Jane Levi, has found for you, then remind you about a project I wrote about earlier in the Summer, and mention some Stone Soup news. To the roller coaster! What a great picture! What an evocative image! The tousled hair! You feel the lead boy’s feeling of excitement, the adrenaline rush that makes the roller coaster so addictive to some riders. As for me—I live in Santa Cruz, California, home to the Giant Dipper. It was built in 1924, making it one of the oldest roller coasters in the world, and one of the few remaining wooden roller coasters still in operation. Is it fun? Yes, it is. I won’t say I go on it often, but I will say that the memory of the creaky climb up to the top of the Giant Dipper and then the rush of the whoosh down the steep slope stays with you. It is terrifying and exhilarating—just the feeling memorialized in Sofia deGraff-Ford’s fabulous drawing published in Stone Soup twelve years ago, to illustrate Simon Gonzales’ evocative piece of short short fiction (below). Summer Journals Just before leaving for Kenya I wrote to you about keeping a Summer journal. How many of you have? I know, fewer of us are keeping a journal than I have fingers on my right hand. Which includes me! I started out good and strong, made my first entry in the San Francisco airport, my heart full of good intentions. But then…  However, I am delighted to say that there is one reader who has set all of us a good example: ten-year-old Abhi Sukhdial has sent us a couple of pages from his summer journal of his family trip to visit his grandparents in India. We will post his journal extract on our blog next week, so do look out for Abhi’s great word-picture and drawings, and let it inspire your own efforts. There is plenty of summer left for journalling! I’m going to get back to journal writing myself in a couple of weeks’ time. For now, whatever your age, if you are reading this Newsletter, create something this weekend that memorializes this weekend—a photograph, a drawing, a poem, a story. Get that journal started. No excuses—just do it! Over the next few weeks I will share a few photographs from my trip. Along with your journals, I’d like some of you to share with Stone Soup photographs from trips you have made this summer, too. Stone Soup for Schools – Chromebooks and iPads A couple of orders have just come in from schools subscribing to Stone Soup for Chromebook and iPads. This kind of full school subscription, that lets every student and teacher use Stone Soup on their device in school, is our bread and butter. This is the way we reach the greatest number of students, and it provides us with the income that lets us keep doing what we do through the Children’s Art Foundation. So, we’d like to say a huge thank you to all the schools who subscribe to Stone Soup. If you are a teacher or a parent at a school that doesn’t yet have full access to Stone Soup, please lobby your school to subscribe to Stone Soup for Chromebooks and iPads, or to add Stone Soup to the list of resource options your Charter School offers to parents. It’s easy to give the option of Stone Soup access to every student in your school. Schools subscriptions are on sale in our online store. And if you need any extra support from us to make it happen, just write to me by replying to this newsletter, or drop Sarah Ainsworth a line via education@stonesoup.com. Kenya It is difficult explaining how different where I go in Kenya is from where many of Stone Soup’s readers tend to live. This photo gives you a little bit of an idea. The woman on the left is called England. She is the sister of my friend Haile with whom I stay. The other three women are England’s friends. They are all from the Samburu tribe. If you look at a map you may be able to find the town of Wamba which is about an hour-and-a-half’s walk from where I stay by the Lengusaka River. Lengusaka is just North of the equator on a high plateau, so the days and nights are about equal in length, and it neither gets super hot nor super cold. Together, England and her friends help people out by building houses. I was tired of sleeping in a tent and so I asked Halie whether it would be possible to build a small house so my daughter and I could sleep on a mattress up off the ground. Haile said, yes! No problem! My sister builds houses! So, for $80, England and her friends built me a small house out of branches and mud. The only tools they used were a machete for cutting the wood, a shovel for digging the clay and a bucket to carry the water for mixing the clay. The house has two rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen/sitting room. It is small, but in much of the world people live in very small houses. You can see the house under construction just behind the women—the roof isn’t on yet. The line of vertical sticks are the basis of the walls. Behind the house you see sand. That is the Lengusaka River, a seasonal river which in

I feel the thrill of the moment as my coconut wobbles, surprisingly fast, past me Illustrator Ester Luna, 12 for Racing Coconuts by Rachel Barglow, 10. Published July/August 2015. A note from Emma Wood Announcing the winners of our short short fiction contest First Place:      “The Pendulum” by Sabrina Guo, 12 Second Place:  “The Sycamore Tree” by Mira Johnson, 8 Third Place:     “A Dinner Party” by Anyi Sharma, 10 Fourth Place:   “The Hummingbird” by Clare McDermott, 12 Honorable Mentions: Symbiotic by Madeline Pass, 13 Potato Diaries by Christian Goh, 10 The Mystical Trees by Hannah Lee, 10 A cat literally watching time pass. A magical tree that heals and protects an injured bunny being chased by a dog. A mysterious hermit who throws a lavish dinner party. A hummingbird whose light, joyful presence delights the whole forest. These are descriptions of the stories that won our short short fiction contest—and a very small sample of the range of stories we received. I was amazed, reading these submissions, at how much can fit into 300 words. Some of you chose to focus on describing a moment or scene in sparkling, clear prose. Others chose to tell an action-packed narrative. Both types worked, and both felt much longer than the word limit. Short short fiction, or flash fiction as it is also called, reminds me of a clown car: each story managed to pack in so much more than I thought possible. I want to directly thank everyone who had the inspiration to write a story and the courage to submit it to our contest. Your excellent, imaginative writing made our choices very difficult. We encourage all of you to continue writing and to submit your work to us again soon. Flash fiction is an excellent genre to work in, especially if you are new to writing fiction. Repetition is the mother of learning—and the shorter the story you are writing, the easier it will be to keep repeating and keep learning. Until next week Read the latest updates on our blog Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at stonesoup.com! This week, Sabrina Guo – who also happens to be our flash fiction contest winner! – has written a thought provoking, compassionate and informative article on The Refugee Children Crisis. Please read it and share your thoughts with her and with us on the website. From Stone Soup July/August 2015 Racing Coconuts By Rachel Barglow, 10 Illustrated by Ester Luna, 12 “Truth or Dare?” my best friend Jackson challenges me. I glance around at my circle of friends like they might have an answer. “Dare,” I say confidently. My friends and I always get together Saturday evenings. We’re gathered around a campfire eating marshmallows on a beach in Florida. Just then, Jackson grins wickedly at a tall palm tree with four coconuts cradled under its huge green leaves, and then back at me. “Simon—I dare you to a coconut race with me. Take it or leave it.” “I’ll take it,” I say, feeling my face turn red like it always does when I’m excited. Jackson and I know the drill. We each jog over to separate palm trees and shake them vigorously. When the tree gives up a coconut, I catch it as it falls. Jackson also gets a coconut. Then we drag our feet in the sand, creating one wide racetrack going for maybe twenty-five feet down a hill. The hill is steep enough to give the coconuts momentum. Jackson and I go to the starting line and bend down, the coconuts barely touching the ground. I feel the tense feeling of excitement in the air, my heart beating quickly. Everyone has their eye on our coconuts. A surfer shouts loudly to a friend in the distance. No one budges, no one hears. I will win this race. I will. “On your mark, get set…” Jackson starts, my heart beating even quicker. “On your mark, get set…” everyone cries, “Go!”  …/more 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.