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The Snowflake Lady in the snow
She noticed my tears and said softly, "Look at the sky"

Illustrator Hoang-Mai Davis,12, for The Snowflake Lady by Katie Woodward,12.
Published January/February 2006.

A note from William Rubel

What a year! What year for Stone Soup and what a year for the world! I can say that team at Stone Soup is looking forward to 2018 with real optimism. We have turned the corner on the print to digital conversion and are looking forward to a creative 2018 in which delve deeper into music and multi-media art forms and begin to develop creative projects that merge writing, art, music, and theater in ways that may not have been done before. But, more on that later in the post (and later in the new year).

I'd like to start by thanking all of you who stuck with us through the transition, and all of our new subscribers. We were doing a lot of improvising this year to keep Stone Soup going. We at Stone Soup are looking forward to a calmer 2018! The 2018 print annual has already sold about 100 copies. We have also redesigned Stone Soup (to be revealed next week, with our January issue) so that your 2018 issues and Annual will have a beautiful new look.

Past, present and future

I had asked you all to think about family food traditions during this holiday season and send us one. Sarah Cymrot, one of our fabulous Stone Soup bloggers, posted an entry on her family's tradition of making Monkey Bread. She talks about a recent death in her family, and how important it was for them to follow through on the Monkey Bread tradition, as usual. Traditions are anchoring. We can see how important they are through the comments you've left responding to Sarah's piece. Thank you.I'd also like to welcome a new blogger to our growing roster of bloggers (if you are interested in blogging let us know). Dylan Gibson gives a short introduction to animationusing an iPhone app called Framecast. I don't personally know this program. If you have an iOS device -- and iPhone or iPad -- I'd check it out. Welcome, Dylan! And thank you. I would like to see Stone Soup publish an animated story in 2018. The fact is that animated stories are hard to make. It takes real dedication. If you get the bug, master the technique and then use it to tell a meaningful story. But first, you have to learn how to make the dog walk (and draw a dog as cute as Dylan's)!

What I want to talk about today as the main portion of the newsletter is based on an article in today's New York Times. It is an article about the opera singer, Maria Callas. Whether or not you are interested in opera I would urge all of you to click on the link I just gave you and look at the article. Within the article there are ten links to excerpts of Maria Callas singing. Now, remember that this is a NEWSPAPER. That is news-paper. But, obviously, you cannot make an actual article printed on paper sing.

Please begin thinking in 2018 about Stone Soup as a place for you to experiment with new ways of being creative. Never before in history has it been possible to combine music with words outside of movies or the theater. I want you to begin sending us stories that incorporate music, animation, drama -- let your own imagination roam. Keep the New York Times article on Maria Callas in mind. As a creative writer you are no longer limited to pure writing.

Thank you all again for your loyalty to Stone Soup. We are trying our best to support creativity. When you support us through subscribing and through buying the Annual you help us realize our mission.

On behalf of Emma Wood, Jane Levi, Sarah Ainsworth, Emma Birches, and myself, our best wishes for the New Year.

Until next week,

William

Your subscriptions are what makes this project happen

Sales are reviving. But, to be frank, more would be better. We are selling digital subscriptions for roughly $2.00 per month. This gives subscribers access to over 5,000 pages of creative work by kids, in addition to the current issues as print-ready PDFs.

We are running Stone Soup right now as a bare bones operation -- I am not receiving a salary. Every subscription helps get us back on our feet. The best deal is the digital/print combination which gives you access to the website, and pre-orders the 2018 Annual (published next December).

Please help us by spreading the word and encouraging your friends, neighbours, schools and friends to join us!

The Ultimate Challenge: To Come Home Alive boy and dog in the water
The dog grabbed the boy's arm in his mouth and dragged him out of the water

From Stone Soup, January/February 2001

The Ultimate Challenge: To Come Home Alive

By Tara Stroll, 13
Illustrated by Jane Westrick, 13

Peter Bradbury stepped outside into the ten-degrees-below-zero Canadian air. The winter would get much colder. The bundled-up, seventeen-year-old boy was not cold. He had grown up in this weather. He was tall, lean, dirty, unshaven, strong, and tough. He had been born in the woods. With much difficulty, he trudged through the three-foot-deep snow over to a rack that his snowshoes were on. The frame was made from wood and the webbing was made from animal skin. They had to be kept outside the whole winter. The temperature change of bringing them in the house was not good for them. Wearing the snowshoes, he walked on top of the snow with ease over to a small doghouse. Curled up inside was a young malamute. He was a grayish brown with black ears and patches of white on his face.

“Come on, Chocolate. We’re going to check the trapline.” The dog got up. Peter was wearing many layers to stay warm. He had a pack on his back. Chocolate had a thick coat of hair; he was always dressed for the weather. Peter put another pack on Chocolate’s back. “We’re ready to go.”

The dog followed Peter into the woods. Peter Bradbury’s trapline was fifteen miles long. At the other end there was a cabin where he would sleep. The next day he would come back home.../more

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