An update from our fifty-fifth Writing Workshop A summary of the workshop held on Saturday November 27th Inspired by Liam’s workshop on Informal Writing, William chose a new topic for the writing workshop: texting. William led the workshop participants in some brainstorming exercises to think about what texting means and how it differs from letters, speaking, or other forms of communication. William played a scene from an opera by Mozart with quick lines of dialogue and asked the group to discuss whether the lines could be translated into a texting situation. We also saw an example of texting in a literary setting from the book Hello Universe, which workshop participant Ethan had recently read. The challenge: Write a scene in which characters are texting each other. This can be a dialogue between two people or a group chat. The participants: Ethan, Madeline, Peri, Liam, Sierra, Tilly, Aditi, Jonathan, Rachael, Elbert, Marissa, Kina, Grace, Kate, Nami, Iago, Samantha
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Weekly Creativity #181 | Flash Contest #38: Write a Creation Story for a Fictional World you Create.
Write a creation story for a fictional world you create. This could be the start of a story about this world, or it could be a stand-alone story. To submit to this month’s Flash Contest, click here.
Saturday Newsletter: December 4, 2021
Winter Wonderland | iPhone 8 Elodie Weinzierl, 11 (Waban, MA), published in Stone Soup December 2021 A note from Caleb Fall 2021 Workshop Reading Don’t forget: Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they’ve written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here! Book Club Also on Saturday December 11, but at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern (the event will end before we begin the workshop reading), Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don’t miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author, and sign up, here! Happy December! Start the month off right by curling up with Anya Geist’s new book Born on the First of Two (you can read an excerpt here), now available for purchase in the Stone Soup store. I’m so excited to share with you the most recent development of another Stone Soup author, Abhi Sukhdial, whose timely novel Three Days Till EOC was the winner of our 2019 Book Contest. After Three Days Till EOC was honored by the Green Earth Book Awards, Abhi made a video in which he speaks passionately and candidly about the need for climate action, celebrates the impact of Stone Soup Magazine, encourages everyone to write from the heart, and promotes and reads from his novel Three Days Till EOC. As Abhi feels that finding Stone Soup was like finding “heaven,” we too could not feel more blessed to have worked with Abhi since he first began submitting to us as a fourth-grader, and we can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the future. Congratulations, Abhi! Now, I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of outstanding works of art from the December issue: Elodie Weinzierl’s Winter Wonderland, the issue’s cover image, and Sean Tenzin O’Connor’s “A Beautiful Wood.” Winter Wonderland is the perfect photograph to represent the December issue, as it features a snowy tree arched over a white hammock, inviting Stone Soup’s readers to relax amidst the wintery landscape of the issue’s content. “A Beautiful Wood,” meanwhile, is an ingenious representation of the December issue’s wintery landscape. In “A Beautiful Wood,” Sean—just five years old—leads us on a journey that ends “at the bottom,” in a place that “may seem that it’s not cold,” where the poem’s central image is revealed: “A Chord of Pine Trees in the Night.” The poem reminds me of Wallace Stevens’s “The Snow Man,” mainly in that I believe one must have “a mind of winter” to follow the thread of the poem and truly see with their own eyes the “Chord of Pine Trees in the Night” rather than just imagine them. So, this weekend I’d like you to create an artwork that celebrates the themes of winter as you understand them. This may be more of a literal interpretation, as in Elodie’s photograph, or it may be more figurative, as in Sean’s poem. Regardless, the artwork should embody winter. Try reading “The Snow Man” for further inspiration. As always, if you’re happy with what you’ve written or created, we would love for you to share and submit it to us via Submittable! Till next time, Other News Book Club On Saturday December 11, at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern, Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don’t miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author and sign up, here! Fall 2021 Workshop Reading Also on Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they’ve written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here! Highlights from the past week online Eleanor Dagan, 13, wrote a powerful poem about how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped long-standing traditions. From Stone Soup December 2021 A Beautiful Wood By Sean Tenzin O’Connor, 5 (Bishop, CA) In the light of the lamp Many rocks Sitting aside Resting in place In the dark The shadows cast Lights and lamps Throughout the night Hanging down Towards the book The poems written With many hooks Continue reading “A Beautiful Wood” here… Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
