Stone Soup Magazine

Book Review·Thanhha Lai, Reviewed by Annie Sheehan-Dean — Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai; HarperCollins Children’s Books: New York, 2011; $16.99 Last year, my family and I moved from Florida to West Virginia and it was...

Story·Sadie Robb, age 13 — A girl recounts the night her beloved family country home burned down, leaving her with physical and emotional scars that teach her about loss and memory.

Poetry·Astrid May Steiner-Manning, age 12 — Runners collapse together in winter snow, their bodies folding into each other like marionettes, transforming exhaustion into shared laughter and connection.

Book Review·Trenton Lee Stewart, Reviewed by Marina Dauer — The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, by Trenton Lee Stewart; Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2012; $17.99 The first thing I noticed about this book was that it is...

Story·Elise Arancio, age 11 — A tomboy navigates her first softball practice, struggling between her natural hitting ability and a coach's instructions that don't feel right to her.

Poetry·Sam Laskin, age 10 — A boy battles nighttime fears as ordinary sounds transform into terrifying threats, until controlled breathing finally brings sleep.

Story·Kira Householder, age 11 — A girl secretly cares for a wolf in the woods, sneaking out at night to bring him food, until a forest fire takes his life and she discovers he left...

Story·Melissa Birchfield, age 13 — A girl obsessed with reading 200 books to become a novelist discovers through her younger cousin that living life provides better inspiration than hiding in stories.

Story·Jenny Li, age 11 — During wartime, a boy trains doves to carry messages and inadvertently saves his occupied city when the birds reach the wrong army unit, though his father never returns.

Story·Melissa Birchfield, age 13 — A girl reluctant to accept a new piano teacher after her grandmother's death discovers she can honor memories while embracing new beginnings through music.