Dear Stone Soup,
I recently got a subscription to Stone Soup, and I love it! It is the perfect opportunity for me because my biggest passions are reading, writing, and drawing. I have not submitted anything yet, but I most defi nitely will in the future.
On a diff erent note, after reading this particular newsletter, I wanted to say that there was one thing that really stood out, mostly because I could relate to it. The other day, while I was at school, my grandma, who was babysitting me at the time, read through my latest Stone Soup and was very impressed. She was even more surprised when I got home and told her the entire magazine was written by children my age! Afterwards, my grandma showed the issue to my parents, who also thought the work was exceptionally good.
So, when I read the segment in the Saturday newsletter about Stone Soup being for everyone, not just children, I completely agreed. I just wanted to make sure you knew that your statement about Stone Soup being for adults too has most defi nitely been proven true. Just ask my grandma!
Sincerely,
Charlotte McAninch, 11
Chicago, IL
This letter was written in response to our March 9,2019 Stone Soup Saturday Newsletter.
Dear Ms. Wood,
Having a piece accepted by a magazine is an amazing experience—more than anything, it’s a validation, a sort of proof that hours of reading, writing, and revising have paid off . My favorite thing about Stone Soup is the wide range of publishing opportunities it off ers: a nature lover can blog about their fi nds, a composer can send in a piece of music, a reader can write about what they read, and there is still space for stories and poems.
Stone Soup‘s website is what started me on book reviewing; when I found out that “writing about books” could actually be published, I started to dig short commentaries out of my notebook and turn them into multi-paragraph pieces. Getting a review published was immensely encouraging for me, and I began to write more and more, eventually venturing into the world of short stories and poetry. Reviewing has changed the way I read and think about what I read. In a way, being accepted by Stone Soup changed my life.
The stories which are featured in the newsletter every Saturday are, I think, a great way of giving newsletter readers a taste of what’s out there—without even visiting the website or opening the magazine. I wonder if, perhaps, you could also feature poems or content from the blog more often; shaking things up might bring more attention to the diff erent genres published in Stone Soup. I really enjoy reading the writing of kids who are my age. For me, it’s a form of inspiration—if they can do it, so can I!
Some really beautiful, evocative writing appears in Stone Soup every month. I’m continually being impressed by what my peers can do, and it gives me the determination to keep going. Thank you, Stone Soup!
Sincerely,
Vandana Ravi, 12
Palo Alto, CA
