Stone Soup Magazine

Book Review·Blue Balliett, Reviewed by Juliet A. Martone — Chasing Vermeen by Blue Balliett; Scholastic Press: New York, 2004; $16.95 Have you ever gotten a letter that changed your life? Well, it was an amazing letter that started Petra...

Story·Canyon Woodward, age 12 — An American family in Peru misjudges a tourist with many suitcases, later discovering she brings clothes for local children and supports Quechua weavers through fair trade.

Book Review·Jean Ferris, Reviewed by Kaitlyn Gerber — Once Upon a Marigold, by Jean Ferris; Harcourt, Inc.: New York, 2002; $17 What if you were a princess who lived a perfect, happy life except for one minor problem—your...

Story·Natalia M. Thompson, age 13 — In Tehran, a teenage girl joins her mother's secret political group that meets under the guise of Friday tea gatherings while the men are at prayer.

Story·Emily deLisle, age 10 — An Egyptian servant girl who is secretly the goddess Isis helps a hippo mother killed by hunters become the goddess Tawret, reuniting her with her family in the afterlife.

Story·Charlie Patten, age 13 — Three friends meet to swim at night but Martin has a premonition dream where a sea creature attacks his friends, waking just as they arrive for real.

Story·Elizabeth Halcomb, age 12 — A twelve-year-old girl resents her parents' decision to adopt a Romanian orphan until the younger girl offers her dead sister's ring, asking if Kate can take her place.

Story·Rachel Stanley, age 13 — A young diver conquers her fear of the 10-meter platform, discovering the exhilaration of flight in the moment she lets herself fall.

Story·Ralphie Kabo, age 11 — Rabbit soldier Brumm rises through ranks to defend Fort Cuniculus against fox invaders, forging alliances with dingoes and kangaroos in an Australian bush war.

Poetry·Katie Ferman, age 12 — While learning to peel apples with her mother, a girl's mind drifts through memories of other first times, barely noticing when she achieves the perfect peel.