Stone Soup Magazine
— During community service punishment, Bailey watches ducks struggle free from thorns and finds hope for her parents battling her father's cancer.
— A Newfoundland girl finds a mysterious bottle on the shore, launches it with a carved whale inside, and watches it travel the world collecting treasures from children in different countries.
— A child chases a butterfly through morning grass, stumbling but persisting until one finger brushes its wing before it flies away.
— When Leo announces he's moving to New York City, his best friend Anabeth gives him a drawing of them biking by Seneca Lake, which he keeps for nine years.
— A child's ocean memories with parents transform into longing as music triggers dreams of returning to those carefree moments of jumping waves together.
— A boy saves his friend from an oncoming train after the friend becomes disoriented from a fall, but the rescue happens so fast he can barely process it.
— A granddaughter recalls tea and conversation with her grandmother, then confronts the shock of learning her grandmother had lost her will to live.
— The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett; Scholastic Press: New York, 2006; $16.99 The second mystery in a trilogy comprising Chasing Vermeer and The Calder Game, The Wright 3 stars two...
— Three friends spend a summer day cloud-watching, playing word games, climbing rocks, and spinning down hills until they're dizzy and mud-covered.
— A cyclist pushes through burning thighs and approaching storms, hill by hill, until reaching the lake's perfect relief.