Stone Soup Magazine
— During the 1953 Netherlands flood, twelve-year-old Sieke is separated from her family and spends a terrifying night caring for a lost little girl before both are reunited with their families.
— A Union soldier at Gettysburg confronts the death of his best friend while wrestling with memories of his father and the meaning of war as 'a game of chess.'
— A Chinese-American girl visits her father's rural hometown and meets Qing, a cotton farmer whose dangerous work with American pesticides reveals the harsh realities behind cheap clothing.
— A girl finds her late mother's locket in her backpack, triggering memories of her fourth birthday party and the day her mother died in a car accident.
— A girl watches her mysterious neighbor Rochelle for years before discovering she's created an elaborate kingdom from stones, each with names and personalities.
— A speaker accidentally rips a map and imagines the torn paper could magically bring her closer to a distant friend she misses.
— A girl recalls waking at 4:30 AM to climb Panther Mountain with her mother and grandparents, eating hard-boiled eggs while watching the sunrise from the summit.
— A morning forest walk becomes a meditation on interconnection as the speaker observes woodpeckers, geese, manzanita trees, and realizes 'I am the tree, soil and sun.'
— A boy bonds with his grandfather through fishing trips and flying lessons in the Red Comet plane, then inherits the aircraft after his grandfather's death from cancer.
— A girl finds her perfect horse at a failing stable, but when her superstitious mother refuses, she creates an elaborate scheme involving a fake dream to change her mind.