A note from Emma
I’m so excited that in just a few days, Anya Geist’s novel, Born on the First of Two, which I selected as “editor’s choice” in our 2020 Book Contest, will be published! You can preorder it here, and you’ll be able to read the first few chapters in our December issue.
As I read through the entries for last year’s contest, I knew I was in trouble. The pandemic has been a grim season for our country and the world, but those early lockdowns clearly created a pocket of time and space for so many of you to sit and work on a sustained creative project. I immediately knew I couldn’t pick just one winner and even choosing the two was incredibly difficult.
But reading Anya’s novel simply sucked me into another world. It literally takes place in another world—a fantastical one with a land in the clouds, mysterious prophecies, special powers, and time travel—but its story also is a world. I was so invested in the characters that I remember spending some nights awake with my then-infant daughter, poring over my iPad to find out what was going to happen next. It is a gripping and moving fantasy adventure novel that I am so thrilled to share with you all. Please support Stone Soup and Anya by buying her wonderful book!
From the many contributions she’s made to the magazine, to her work with us as an intern (which included co-teaching a summer workshop!), and finally, her book, Anya has been an integral part of the Stone Soup family and truly a valuable member of our team. Anya, we are so proud of everything you have accomplished; it has been a pleasure seeing you grow and progress as a writer, artist, thinker, and so much more!
Lastly, I’d like to provide a second, gentle reminder that our annual open house is on Tuesday, November 30 at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST. Everyone on our team will be sharing a few words, and we hope to hear from many of you about what Stone Soup has meant to you. We look forward to seeing you!
I hope you had a warm, festive Thanksgiving holiday.
Emma
Other News
Book Club
On Saturday December 11, at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern, Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don't miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author and sign up, here!
Fall 2021 Workshop Reading
Also on Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they've written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here!
Highlights from the past week online
Special Features
Sabrina Guo introduced the Crossing Borders Pen-Pal Program, Direct Aid for Migrants via El Pueblo Nola, the establishment of Girl Pride Chapters like Girl Pride Samburu, the Ambassadors Scholarship Program, which supports girl's scholarly endeavors, and asked that we join her foundation—Girl Pride International—in their next endeavors, all in conjunction with the Stone Soup Refugee Project!
China is Left Behind
By Alisa Zou, 12 (Concord, MA)
I can’t stop myself
From looking out there.
Like something is
Controlling my eyes,
Pulling my head towards
The airplane window
Again and again
Seeing America
Below us.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Please go back to your seats and
Fasten your safety belts.
Thank you.
Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered
in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Stone Soup's advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
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