Stone Soup Magazine
— Al Capone Shines My Shoes, by Gennifer Choldenko; Penguin Young Readers Group: New York, 2011; $6.99 Though I am fascinated with American history, including Alcatraz, I was drawn to the...
— A middle school boy who loves dance faces relentless bullying until he decides to perform in the school talent show to show his classmates what dance truly means to him.
— A mute girl in southern Africa discovers the feared Jago bird that terrorizes her village is protecting its silent chicks, finding her own voice through their connection.
— A young writer climbs her favorite oak tree overlooking dark water, finding solitude and inspiration in the worn branches where she writes.
— A girl loses her cherished bracelet in the ocean and learns to value her cousin's happiness over material possessions when she imagines a fish wearing it.
— A child dives into a warm pond where rainbow trout circle and bite toes, experiencing the underwater world as a distant, heavenly place.
— A boy accidentally shoots a squirrel with his BB gun, then desperately tries to save it, confronting his guilt and the reality of what he's done.
— The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill, by Megan Frazer Blakemore; Bloomsbury Children’s Books: New York, 2015; $7.99 In 1953 Hazel Kaplansky is a fifth-grader who wants badly to be a...
— Eight years after their parents abandon them at an orphanage, Katherine must confront her lingering hope for their return with help from her wise younger sister Lily.
— During Diwali celebrations at her grandparents' house, a girl's joy turns to terror when her little sister's hair catches fire from a candle, transforming her perspective on what matters most.