Stone Soup Magazine

Story·Erin Cadora, age 10 — A stray cat with a bell that prevents her from hunting gradually learns to trust a grieving woman who feeds her, eventually becoming a beloved family pet.

Story·Bonnie Leigh Cruser, age 13 — A thirteen-year-old girl wakes before dawn to ride her pony bareback through woods and fields, finding renewal in their secret morning gallop.

Story·Andrew Lee, age 13 — A new student struggles with bullying on the soccer field until a classmate teaches him moves that help him make the team and find acceptance.

Poetry·Caley Scheppegrell, age 13 — A girl escapes her unwanted birthday party to the woods where she encounters a wolf, recognizing their shared solitude before exchanging wordless farewells.

Story·Ariel Mia larovici Katz, age 13 — A girl alone in a gray house during her parents' divorce remembers losing her only friend years ago, then discovers singing as an outlet for her pain.

Poetry·Ava Alexander, age 11 — Winter melts into spring as mountains show green haze, moles tunnel, and a robin pulls the first worm from softened ground.

Story·Talitha Farschman, age 12 — A noble lady disguises herself as a foreign prince and wins three contests to free her husband from the king's dungeon after he boasted of her beauty.

Poetry·Cayley Ziak, age 12 — A tree and stars converse at night, each envying the other's life until they recognize their own unique purposes and blessings.

Story·Emmy J. X. Wong, age 11 — A reluctant girl spends summer caring for her grandmother on Nantucket, discovering family heritage through lightship basket weaving and maritime stories, finding unexpected belonging.

Book Review·Nancy Yi Fan, Reviewed by Emily Gordis — Swordbird, by Nancy Yi Fan; HarperCollins: New York, 2007; $15.99 Imagine you live in a world of birds, of flight, of complete freedom. Imagine an evil hawk comes along and...