June 2019

Artwork·Meredith Rohrer

Artwork·Hannah Parker — Editor’s Introduction Since November 2017, we have published 15—and, with this issue, now 20— of Hannah Parker’s photographs. This issue also marks her fourth Stone Soup cover. Hannah lives on...

Story·Andrew Wu, age 11 — A philosophical narrative following four reincarnated beings—seed, insect, fish, and bear—each discovering Nature's cyclical patterns of creation, destruction, and renewal through their brief lives.

Artwork·Alicia Xin

Artwork·Sloka Ganne

Story·Eliana Schaffer, age 11 — A girl who believes she is perfect discovers emptiness within herself when her teacher sends her home, triggering her first tears and the beginning of real growth.

Poetry·Ivy Cordle, age 9 — A child discovers that the scary monster outside their door is actually lonely and scared, shrinking smaller with each act of kindness until it disappears.

Poetry·Grace Jiang, age 11 — A year cycles through the seasons as Little Deer grows from playful fawn to father, echoing his own father's words about preparing for winter.

Story·Isabel Swain, age 12 — A girl awaits her mother's return for a crucial school interview, only to learn her mother is hospitalized and she'll enter foster care.

Poetry·Grace Jiang, age 11 — A seed becomes a rose that grows tall as a dog, then withers each winter and returns, cycling through seasons year after year.