Young Bloggers

This summer, William sent out a call for pictures of your summer journal pages. We know it is already fall, but we wanted to make sure to publish some of our favorites! Here are some pages from Claire R’s journal. 

One of my goals last year was to read a lot of books. I wanted to reach 50, but once I reached it, I knew I could aim higher. I bumped up my goal to 100, and ended up very close. How did I do it? Well, last year, I tried something new: using a reading journal to track all of my bookish data (to-reads, what I read this year, Goodreads challenges, etc.). Here’s my reading journal. I’ve entrusted Mickey with my records… Perhaps you’ve heard of bullet journals, meant as an aesthetic way to portray your life, with mood trackers, movies watched, grades, etc. There’s total freedom in choosing what you want to write about and how you want to write it. Well, a reading journals are bullet journals dedicated solely to books, and work in a similar fashion. You can choose different pages for your journal for different topics, and decorate and design them the way you’d like. Also, don’t forget: half of the fun is choosing the notebook itself! Here’s what I had in my reading journal: The Goodreads 100 Children’s Books to Read in a Lifetime List (edited slightly according to which books I think will interest me) Reading challenges and my progress Books I’d like to read (also known as to-reads) Favorite books of all time More pages of to-reads… I also had a few pages dedicated to writing, but it was mainly for reading. I tried to update my journal as often as possible to keep the most current numbers. So why stick with a journal? There are sites to help you keep track of your reading progress, but I love writing everything down. At the end of the day, it makes me feel more accomplished than a few clicks ever could (however, I do respect if you use websites to help you, because they are quick and simple). In addition, you can bring your record with you everywhere, without having to worry about any Wifi connection. You can even design your own layouts, titles, and fonts in your journal. Also, it’s pretty interesting to see how many books you’ve read at the end of the month and at the end of the year! Most importantly, though, I think it’s important to keep track of what you do, no matter where or how you do it. Keeping track of what I read kept me motivated to keep going. This can be applied to any goal, and I think that you’ll find yourself being more efficient, and happier, by writing/listing/typing out how much closer you are to your dreams. So do you want to start a reading journal? How do you keep track of books you’ve read or want to read? Do you journal? I’d love to hear about it below!

by Kat J. As I was reading “Seeing Over the Side of the Boat,” a personal narrative written by Benjamin Halperin and illustrated by Kyle Trefny, I started to see myself in the author’s perspective—lost and confused in a broken home. Written from Benjamin’s point of view, readers follow the thirteen-year-old author’s thoughts and emotions as he tries to understand his parents’ unexpected divorce. Starting off the story, Benjamin expresses confusion, a common emotion that families of divorced parents may initially experience. He says, “A few days ago I overheard them fighting over who gets to keep me. That is what I don’t understand. Why would one parent get to keep me?” Once his parents announce to him that they will be getting divorced, Benjamin starts to realize how the separation of his mom and dad will affect his life. He describes behaviors from his parents that have already started changing, such as “My dad came into my kitchen to get dinner started. Mom went to her friends for dinner and to stay the night. She was doing that more and more now.” Although he won’t always have his parents together with him, Benjamin is reminded that he will always have his love of baseball and the comfort of his golden retriever, Lucky. I remember feeling the confusion and sadness Benjamin felt as I was trying to process my parents’ divorce a few years ago. Benjamin mentions, “It was the first time in what feels like forever that they finally agreed on something,” which is a thought I remember having when I was in his position. I would always think after the divorce, at least they won’t fight anymore. Even after years of living with parents that wouldn’t get along, divorce is not something that anyone can easily be ready for. “Seeing Over the Side of the Boat” stood out to me because what the author was experiencing emotionally is very common, but isn’t quite publicly talked about as much as it needs to be. Is it wrong to feel lonely in this situation? Does this mean my parenst love me less now? I resonated with Benjamin as he reflected on these questions throughout his narrative, because I used to ask myself the same thing. With some of the details changed, the story could’ve been of my own experience—from the suspicions of distant behavior of his parents, to the realization that maybe they work better as parents when they’re not together. I would really encourage readers who may be going through a similar situation to read this and have something to relate to. Since it’s so easy to feel isolated in these life changes, it may also help to talk to others, like friends or loved ones.   The illustrator really captures the sense of companionship in his beautiful colored drawing. “I felt that she was the only one who cared about me anymore,” describes Benjamin’s relationship with Lucky, who stays by his side as his best friend. Although Benjamin and Lucky are lonely in the kitchen, at least they are each other’s loyal company. Both the story and the illustration capture the feeling of neglect well. The only comment that was submitted under this story is a very important one and stuck to me: “So far I’ve read just one story, about divorce, and it seems that these stories may be for the grownups—messages from children to the people in their world, which is pretty messed up. I’ll be reading more and hoping to get my grandson interested and involved. Thank you!”, written by Miriam MacCarthy. As an adult, Miriam expresses that she gained insight about how children feel during a divorce, which is important for the parents to read. I appreciate this comment because not only can the story affect young readers, but also grownups. I’m glad that older readers are able to connect with the story by seeing through the perspective of the other side. A literary magazine like Stone Soup allows readers to have access to children’s minds — minds that are full of endless questions, observations, and creativity regarding the world that is seen through their eyes. What I like about Stone Soup and about this story in particular is that it’s informative by bringing light to perspectives that us readers don’t realize or pay attention to. Think about a time where you felt like you were the only one going through an event or change in your life, when it seemed like no one around you understood how you felt. What would you want others to know? I encourage you to reach out to others by expressing how you feel in your writing or art, maybe someone out there feels the exact same way! To read “Seeing Over the Side of the Boat” by Benjamin Halperin and Kyle Trefny, visit https://stonesoup.com/article/seeing-over-the-side-of-the-boat/ About the author: Kat is from Los Angeles, CA currently studying Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She enjoys photography and making paper collages.