Saturday Newsletter: December 15, 2018

A note from William Rubel

Thanks to all of you who have so far answered our call for donations. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and support for our work in 2018. Click here if you didn’t receive the donor drive letter, or would like to read its message again.

Do you love podcasts?

Podcasters! We recently agreed to work with a South African podcaster who specializes in podcasts by kids. Details will follow in a few weeks. This podcaster told us that we should start our own podcast program. I’d like to know who amongst you—kid or adult—has worked on a podcast. If you have, or if you have skills you think might be helpful to us—please send me a letter by replying to this email. If you have worked on a published podcast, then please include the URL.

A project for this week(end)

For the project this week, I’d like you to look at the photograph “Frozen Beauty,” by Hanna Gustafson, which we are republishing here from last January’s issue, and to read the poem by Sheila Northrup it is paired with at the bottom of the newsletter. I want you to go outside with a phone or camera and take a photograph of winter beauty where you live. Where I live, this is a tough assignment; our winter beauty looks more like what for most of you would look like spring. If you live in Arizona or Florida or Texas or in my California, your winter beauty photograph will look very different from that of a reader in Maine or Wisconsin or Alaska. The poem says, “Now it is official./ Winter is finally here.” I want you to capture in a photograph what, to you, makes winter "official" where you live. As always, if you really like what you have done and think you have nailed the assignment, please upload it to our submissions website so Emma can see it.

By the way, my daughter and I are flying to Egypt today! My colleagues will take over the newsletter while I’m away. Best wishes for the holidays!

Until I return,

More winners in our 45th birthday promotion: every 45th subscriber gets a free subscription!

Congratulations to our latest winners–including our 450th subscriber since the promotion began, who gets extra prizes!

Stone Soup was 45 years old this year. We are celebrating that birthday and celebrating being back in print with an offer to our loyal readers. Can you help us meet our target of 1,000 new print subscribers by the end of the year? We are offering free subscriptions and extra prizes at various points along the way, all tied into our age, and we are more than half way there!.

• Every 45th subscriber receives a free subscription (3 more this week, in New York, Wisconsin, and California)
• The 450th and 900th subscribers receive a free subscription, plus copies of all ten of the Stone Soup books in our collection (8 anthologies and 2 Annuals). A parcel will be on its way to Portland, Oregon, next week.
• And, the 1,000th will receive all of that, plus a free site license for the institution (school or public library) of their choice.

It's easy to subscribe: visit this page. This particular promotion will continue until we meet our target or get to the end of the year, whichever comes first. Please share this with everyone you think would benefit from joining the readership of Stone Soup.

And don’t forget, you (and anyone you share the code with) can get a 10% discount on your annual subscription using the code CHEER2018 on our subscription form.

This week on the blog

This week, read Lucy Ward's review of Noggin, by John Corey Whaley, and think, if you can, about what it might be like to wake up to find your head stuck on a different body!

Holiday shopping

For holiday gifts: all print subscriptions and other book and product orders ship within two days of being received. All orders received for the remainder of the year will be sent by Priority Mail. To be sure of delivery in time for Christmas, please order by December 17, or select one of the FedEx delivery options.

For last-minute shoppers: Digital subscriptions (and the digital portion of combined print/digital subscriptions) are available immediately!

• • Print and digital subscriptions via our website, Stonesoup.com. Use code CHEER2018 on annual subscriptions and receive a 10% discount (until December 31 only)
  • Annuals, anthologies, notebooks, and sketchbooks, via our online store, Stonesoupstore.com

Published in Stone Soup,
January 2018

Winter

By Sheila Northrup, 10
Illustrated with 'Frozen Beauty' by Hanna Gustafson, 12

Soft, white, flakes drift down, following the wind.
They bring a sense of happiness to the air.
The golden rays of warmth strike onto the fluffy blanket below.
The harsh cold still manages to crawl inside houses.
Heat vents roar and the windows give out a moan.
Thick clouds soon hide the sun.
Smoke floats out of the chimneys into the bitter air, while leaves and grass are out of sight.
The snow is swallowing up trees.
Hot chocolate is being slurped down at every house.
Now it is official.
Winter is finally here.

Click here to read more poems and stories about winter published in Stone Soup.

Our customer service contact details for anyone seeking help with a subscription:
Email: stonesoup@icnfull.com (response usually within 24–48 hours)
Phone: 215-458-8555 (between 7:30 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday; and 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday)