Stone Soup Magazine
— Promises to the Dead by Mary Downing Hahn; Clarion Books: New York, 2000; $15 Promises to the dead is a very interesting book. On the surface it seems simple, but...
— A boy remembers his grandmother through the landscape she loved — hot air balloons, hilltop trees, vineyards — and the moment of scattering her ashes.
— A girl falls from a tree house in 1949 and awakens from a seventeen-year coma to find her family aged, her best friend married to her brother, and the boy...
— Three cousins rowing to a Maine lighthouse are caught in a sudden storm, their boat capsizes, and they barely make it to shore alive.
— A sixth-grade violinist, the youngest finalist in a school competition, plays brilliantly but doesn't place, learning to transform disappointment into determination for next year.
— A girl picks a fight with her sister over blanket distribution, ignores her conscience, loses the argument she started, and learns to listen to that small inner voice.
— Queen’s Own Fool by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris; Philomel Books: New York, 2000; $19.99 My dictionary tells me that “history” is a record of significant events in the...
— Ed plays basketball with his friend Dave before a school bingo night where he comes within one number of winning an air-hockey table, losing to an elderly woman.
— A boy on his first duck hunt with his father struggles between wanting to please his dad and his inability to kill the mallard in his sights.
— A drama-loving girl accidentally breaks a precious jade elephant in an antique shop and offers to perform for the elderly owner's sick husband as recompense.