Does anything say summer fun and adventure more than this issue’s cover art, Summer Summer, by Kaavya Killawala? I just want to jump in and be part of it! But as Micki Mermelstein learns in her opening memoir, “Drowning in a Memory,” adventure often comes with risk.
This season, we give you a wide spectrum of emotions and themes. It’s summer with an introspective twist. There are poems about falling, about swallows in the moonlight, about waves and sun and the spiritual experience of looking at the stars. But summer is also about escape, and we have that, too—with the funny story of a hermit crab who stands up to his bullies and not one but two fantasy stories to lose yourself in.
We close with the final installment of War and Pieces by Alice Pak. It’s been an unflinching look at a friendship divided by war, but I find myself soothed by the note of hope it ends on.
I encourage you to keep writing and creating this summer. Let the time away from school clear your mind, so you can explore new ideas and new ways of expressing yourself. There’s no time like the summer to take a creative risk!
Happy adventuring!
Diane Landolf