Newsletter

“Mom, I wrote this, and I thought you might want to read it” Illustrator Fangze Tian, 12 for The Boy Fictionalist by Joshua Bernheisel, 10. Published July/August 2001. A note from Emma Wood Growing up, my favorite place to write was in the living room of my parents’ apartment at a secretary desk. A secretary desk is a desk that is like a secret: the part of the desk that you write on can be opened and shut. When shut, the desk looks like a boring, slightly mysterious piece of wood furniture. When shut, it can also be locked, so the wrong person doesn’t get into your files. In fact, it’s similar to a laptop or a tablet that you keep locked with a passcode. But, when open, it’s a writing surface with many drawers to hide your secret papers. My parents usually kept their secretary desk closed, but I would get my journal, click the lamp on, fold the desk down, and write. I loved to write there because the desk was old and beautiful. I liked to imagine I was Charlotte Brontë or Emily Dickinson, one of the many 19th-century writers I admired. Or… I loved to imagine myself writing there, but often, sitting there, I found I couldn’t write! The desk was too serious, too old. So, I would slowly slide to the floor and write beneath it. There, free from history and dark mahogany, I was able to let my imagination roam. We at Stone Soup would love to hear about where you love to write—and feature your favorite spot on the Stone Soup Instagram! Maybe your favorite writing spot is a desk, a chair, a treehouse, a hammock, a stone next to a stream, your bed, your dog’s bed, or even a whole room… We want to see where you write—wherever that is! For the chance to be featured, please follow this link. All we ask is that you upload 1 – 3 high-res color photos of your favorite writing spot along with 1 – 2 sentences explaining what you most love about the spot. If you like, you can ask someone else to take a picture of you writing in that space, but an image of the space alone works just fine. We can’t wait to see where you write! Submit to #WhereIWrite Short Short Fiction Contest – a Short Extension! So far, we have received a record number of submissions for our flash fiction contest… but we have still decided to extend the deadline to midnight on Monday, June 18! This means, you have the whole weekend to write and submit your short, short story to our contest. Remember, we are asking for just 300 words or fewer. Even though I can’t enter the contest, I plan to rise to the challenge and write one flash fiction story myself, both today and tomorrow. I hope you will join me! Submit to the Short Short Fiction Contest We can’t wait to read your work. Until next week More great writing at stonesoup.com Don’t forget to check in all through the week to read the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers on the Stone Soup blog! And remember, Stone Soup subscribers can read every issue, every story, every poem from the most recent all the way back through the past 20 years at our website, any time they like, for just $24.99 a year (a little over $2 a month). If you are signing up now, don’t forget to use discount code JUNE18 when you check out, to get free access for the rest of this month! From Stone Soup January/February 2017 The Boy Fictionalist By Joshua Bernheisel, 10 Illustrated by Fangze Tian, 12 For all my life, I had hated writing. In fact, I had loathed it. When we were at school, our class would have to do writing exercises every day. My teacher, Ms. Sanders, would write a seemingly random topic on our whiteboard every morning. Before the end of class, each and every one of us had to write at least ten sentences about it. I remember doing this day after day, and I found it tedious and time-consuming but also quite pointless. Although I didn’t like it, I would write my ten sentences anyway. This continued for the first couple months of the school year, and after a while, it wasn’t so bad. One day, I came into my classroom. There was change in the air, and I realized what it was very quickly. Rather than “Current Canadian Holidays” or “Early Wind Instruments,” there was something unusual written on the whiteboard. It said, in large lettering, “Free Writing—write whatever you want.” I wasn’t going to waste any time. I expeditiously began writing a short story that I called “The Ghost Child.” As I sat at my desk and commenced work, a boy named Robert walked up behind me. Robert was fairly tall for his age with a pasted-on smirk, jet-black hair, and constant bad breath. “The Ghost Child,” he said mockingly, leaning over my shoulder. “That has to be the stupidest name I’ve ever seen. Out of all the kids in this room with cutesy titles like ‘Little Dead Hiding Wood’ or ‘Jack and the Leanwalk,’ yours is the worst.” While I don’t want to call anyone the meanest kid, Robert was pretty mean and quite annoying. I rolled my eyes, the best tactic for getting him to leave me alone. “Robert, please just do your writing.” “Ha!” he scoffed. “Let me get right on that, Griffin Boy. What should mine be called? Hmm… How about ‘Peter Griffin Writes Hit Story!’ But I’m sure my lowly writing could never compete with ‘The Ghost Kid,’ could it?” I rolled my eyes again. “Very funny. And it’s ‘The Ghost Child.’” I resumed writing…/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.

She was not quite full grown, but not a kitten either Illustrator Erin Cadora, 10, for her story Phoebe. Published March/April 2008. A note from William Rubel The Flash Fiction contest deadline is Friday, June 15, at midnight. Contest submissions are coming in, thank you! In a previous Newsletter I suggested that one approach to writing flash fiction is to look through stories you have already written to find a passage that has the strength to stand on its own as is, or after only a small amount of editing. Newsletter reader Joanna Smith is a fiction author and blogger who recently blogged about how to approach writing flash fiction. I like what she wrote about how to approach flash fiction and encourage all of our readers to read Joanna’s post, regardless of age. For adult Newsletter readers, flash fiction is a good genre to use to break the ice and get back into creative writing. If you are are an adult and write something please feel free to send it to me by replying to this Newsletter. I’d like to see what you’ve done. Kids, ages 13 and under, please submit your flash fiction to our contest the usual way: click on the Submit button you will find lower down on the page and follow the instructions. Use JUNE18 code for FREE access to stonesoup.com It is official!  School is out! To celebrate, and to offer those of you who are not subscribers a good dose of Stone Soup to inspire your own creative Summer, we are offering you free access to Stone Soup at stonesoup.com for the rest of the month of June. All you have to do is go to the Stone Soup subscribe page and enter JUNE18 in the coupon field. That will give you unlimited access to  all Stone Soup PDFs and thousands of pages of writing by kids through the end of the month. Summer 2018 Journal The way I think of it, when the school year ends, that is the end of a year. The last day of school is a second December 31. The following day begins something new. On Wednesday, my daughter left sixth grade. On Thursday she effectively became a seventh grader. The end of school, the beginning of Summer, is the time, much more than January 1, to make resolutions. What I’d like to encourage all of us to do (and I am folding myself into this) is to start a Summer journal. Use the Summer journal to write about what you are doing, what you’re thinking, feeling, and as a sketchbook for stories, poems, and other creative work. This can include recipes. Flash fiction is also a very good format for journals. It can be applied to both fiction and nonfiction writing. Get started this weekend with your Summer 2018 Journal. Send me a photograph of your first two complete pages in a reply email to this Newsletter. I will include the first journal pages sent to me in next week’s Newsletter. To make this a project that all Newsletter readers can participate in, I will include images of journals that adults are writing, too. Now, to start! Look around your house for a blank journal or writing notebook that still has lots of blank pages in it so you can repurpose the book for your Summer 2018 Journal. If you don’t have anything on hand, then go out and buy a fresh journal to write in. Blank journals are cheaper at a stationery store or the stationery section of a big pharmacy. Bookstores and gifts shops also often have journals. We at Stone Soup sell a couple of journals at our online store.  But, best is to repurpose something you have on hand right now so you can start without needing to go out and shop for something. I’ll look forward to seeing pictures of your journals. Until next week, Keep up to date with the newest articles on our blog Our website is being revised this week so the developers have asked us not to add anything new to the site. There will be fresh posts very soon, along with a better organized blog section. From Stone Soup March/April 2008 Phoebe Written and Illustrated by Erin Cadora,10 It was a quaint little backyard, not much, but cozy, a haven for many strays. With pretty, plump azalea bushes to dash into, and a soft, ivy-covered ground to sleep on, a homeless kitty could spend a few comfortable nights there. Of course, it was never a permanent home of any stray, but there was one who was different. She was not quite full-grown, but not a kitten either. Her stomach was as white and fluffy as a cloud, but her tail, back, and the top of her head were a thunderstorm gray. She had petite paws and innocent features. Her face consisted of glittering, clever, but frightened eyes and an adorable little pink nose that almost sparkled in the sunlight. She had obviously had a previous home, because there was a silver bell attached to her neck by a red velvet strap. Unfortunately, her previous owner had most likely abused her; she was petrified of humans and always had that anxious look in her eyes. She had certainly taken quite a shine to that garden, and had seemed to settle there, but she took care not to venture near the crusted old brownstone that towered above her. Little did she know, the woman who lived in that house was interested in her, she was curious about the cat that lived in her yard. …/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.

“That was very nice of you, dear,” said his mom Illustrator Karina Jivkova,13 for They’re Pigs! by Adam Jacobs,11 Published January/February 2007. A note from William Rubel Even if you aren’t a kid, and don’t have a kid in your house, I am sure that you are aware that Summer vacation is almost upon us. My daughter reminded me today that there are only three days left of her middle school semester. Yikes! It is Summer, again! While Stone Soup is for kids, there is nothing kid-like about a great deal of what we publish. Look at this richly colored, well imagined, unusually framed illustration to our 2007 story, “They’re Pigs!”. I am in awe of how this drawing is organized, at the depth of observation and technical skill with which it is drawn. Note the shadow under the bed and the shadow cast by the vase on the night table. The design of that table, the folds of the sheets and curtains, the tactile feeling of the carpet are all masterful. I am also struck by the the child’s gesture, hand on head, and the fabulous directed gazes of the pigs themselves. It is a sumptuous drawing for an entertaining story. Scroll down to start reading the story, and click through to our website to finish it. Enjoy! Read the June issue now, and get inspired by animal art People say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’m going to disagree with that today. You can judge the June issue of Stone Soup by its cover. The stories, poems, photographs, drawings and classic book review our young creators sent us (and Emma Wood selected) for this issue all live up to the promise of the wonderful cover. This portrait of ‘Red Fern’ is a truly great animal portrait. Hannah Parker, the photographer, is 13. Congratulations, Hannah, and thank you for sharing your work with Stone Soup! Scientists are doing a lot of work on animal cognition. The very clear conclusion, so far, is that animals are much cleverer than we humans had been giving them credit for. I have no idea what Red Fern is thinking. But I think one of the great strengths of this image is that it conveys the sense that the goat is not only alive, but aware. They are weird goat eyes, for sure, but even so, Hannah presents us with a goat that has personality, and real presence. In a newspaper I recently read the suggestion that governments should also count the animals we live with when they take a census of their citizens. My daughter and I live with about twenty-five creatures: a cat, rabbits, chickens, and aviary birds. The project for this weekend is to take your camera or your sketchbook, and take or make portraits of animals. I am using “animals” in its largest sense, so I’m including fish, birds, reptiles, and even insects, in addition to mammals. I want you to try to capture a sense of the animal’s personality. As this is a portrait, the head should take up a substantial portion of the frame or page. If you are using a camera, then take lots of pictures so you have many to choose from. Part of the art of photography is recognizing which of the many pictures you took is the “keeper.” As always, if you think you created something Stone Soup might publish, then send it to Editor Emma for her consideration by uploading the image at the Stone Soup submissions page. Meanwhile, I encourage all of you to check out the June issue at our website. If you like what you see, and aren’t already a subscriber, then please subscribe for the young writer or artist in your life. Subscribers can read the full issue online or download it as a PDF to read on their tablet. We also have print copies ready to go at our mailing house, so if you prefer you can order it in print. Until next week Read more at stonesoup.com Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at stonesoup.com! Book Review: Moo by Sharon Creech, reviewed by Carlyle Bryant, 11  Book Review: Almost Autumn, by Marianne Kaurin, reviewed by Claire Buchanan, 12 Nature: Help Protect Trees by Antara Book Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, reviewed by Nina Vigil, 11 Book Review: Holes by Louis Sachar, reviewed by Abhi Sukhdial, 10 Support Stone Soup through Amazon Smile Did you know that you can support the Children’s Art Foundation, the non-profit behind Stone Soup, through the Amazon Smile program? Each purchase made by a supporter contributes a tiny amount so that magically, just like the original stone soup in the fairy tale, the more who chip in, the richer the pot will become. All you have to do to effortlessly raise money for Stone Soup is go to the Amazon Smile portal. You will be asked to choose the charity you’d like to support. Once you have chosen, 0.5% of the value of all your purchases will go to the charitable organization in question. You can change your designation at any time. Find us in the US Amazon program by searching for “Children’s Art Foundation – Stone Soup.” It takes a little retraining to switch to smile.amazon.com as one’s default Amazon URL, but once you do then every time you buy something from Amazon you help us out. Your support matters. Thank you! From Stone Soup January/February 2007 They’re Pigs! By Adam Jacobs, 11 Illustrated by Karina Jivkova,13 It was a beautiful morning in California. The ocean sparkled… the trees were a lush green… what a perfect time for the loud, unwelcome buzz of the alarm clock. Ryan got out of bed and shut the thing off. A little too suddenly, he decided, as he began to grow dizzy and weary. He staggered across the room to the door. He needed breakfast. Now. What day is it, anyway? he wondered. The calendar said it was Thursday. Thursday! Thursday was wake-up-the-family-in-a-weird-and-obnoxious-way day! He had been waiting for this