Night (acrylic)by Rosemary Brandon, 10 (Nashville, TN) and published in the July/August 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from Sarah The July/August issue is out! This issue looks a little different than most, since there are only two long stories: “Get Myself a Rocking Chair” by Nora Heiskell, 12, and an excerpt from Tristan Hui’s forthcoming book The Other Realm, which won our Book Contest last year. I want to draw your attention to the opening line of Tristan’s book. Tristan begins The Other Realm with a seemingly simple sentence, but one that leaves the reader wanting to know more: “The mind of Azalea Morroe’s father was coming apart.” What a way to start a story! There’s so much in this short sentence—who is Azalea Morroe? Why is her father’s mind coming apart? And how exactly? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to keep reading (and once you finish the excerpt, you can pre-order the book to learn the whole story). With this sentence, Tristan starts off her book in a compelling way. It reminded me of the famous opening lines from literature. Maybe you’ve heard of a few, like “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” from George Orwell’s 1984. Or, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” There are so many great examples! Maybe you have some of your own favorites. For a weekend project, I suggest that you craft a list of many of these opening lines. Consider what details to include and what tone to use. What would make you want to keep reading something? This list could start as a jumping off point for a story, or it could be an exercise in and of itself. Please submit anything you’re particularly proud of to be considered for publication in Stone Soup. Until next week, Book Contest 2021 For information on submitting to the Stone Soup Book Contest 2021, please click here. To submit your manuscript, please visit our submittable site. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Young Blogger BlueJay published three stunning time-lapse videos of food being eaten—Baked, Zest, and Heliotrope. Sierra, 11, reviewed Karina Yan Glaser’s 2017 novel, The Vandebeekers of 141st Street. Summer Classes and Events! Young Author’s Studio Summer Camps: we are offering a wide range of classes through the summer jointly with the Society of Young Inklings. Each camp runs for two hours per day, Monday through Thursday. All details and bookings via Society of Young Inklings. From Stone Soup July/August 2021 from The Other Realm By Tristan Hui, 15 (Menlo Park, CA) Illustrated by Rosemary Brandon, 10 (Nashville, TN) Chapter One The mind of Azalea Morroe’s father was coming apart. Gradually, and only at the seams, but coming apart all the same—and that was where the adventure began. Henry Morroe was not terribly old, nor terribly unhealthy. A researcher in an astronomical laboratory, he was both fervently passionate about his work and blissfully oblivious to his unpopularity at the place. Henry had always been of an eccentric manner, and because of this, no one really noticed that anything was wrong. For what was now out of order in his mind was assumed to have always been that way. Eccentricity was not a welcome or valued trait in Montero; the little family spent most of their time shut up in the little flat they shared, except for when Azalea went to school over the hill and her father to work—when he went to work. Lately, it had not been so. Lately, Henry Morroe was in his study from sunrise till sunset, combing over maps and taking notes from books, sticking tabs of paper to the walls, and perpetually adding to the jumbo fold-out poster board that was to save him from being laid off. In truth, it was more of a firing than a layoff, because the research company had never been a fan of Henry Morroe—although he did good work, they were much more preoccupied with their image than the accuracy of their research. They had finally found someone better—rather, someone much wealthier and more popular—to analyze and compare the data collected by the many enormous telescopes in the lab. Sure, the results might be sorely lacking in accuracy, but the image the lab projected onto the astronomical research industry would be brightened tenfold. It was a worthy switch. However, Henry Morroe had heard of this plan some weeks back—listening with an antique ear trumpet pressed to the keyhole of his supervisor’s office—and the news had derailed any other train of thought completely. They had granted him a temporary leave while they set the other guy up in Henry’s office, and Azalea’s father had taken that time to formulate a plan guaranteed to get his job back. This plan revolved around the information concealed in a dusty old volume, one that Azalea was reading while she stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing her teeth. All About the Two Realms, by Dr. Arnold Colton, was a book with a history deeper than most. Eccentricity did not prompt celebration in Montero, and Dr. Arnold Colton had written a very eccentric book. . . . /MORE 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.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Three in One – Baked, Zest, Heliotrope
In this series of three time lapse videos originally sent to us as part of the April Flash Contest, blogger BlueJay brings a unique style to the genre of food blogging. In each video, we watch as the food—and in one case the dish—in front of us disappears in distinct frames. The minimal white background lends to a futuristic, postmodern vision surrounding the concepts of consumption and documentation. These videos, like the food they center, are a treat—enjoy! Baked https://stonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Baked_JayaKhurana.mp4 Zest https://stonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Zest_JayaKhurana.mp4 Heliotrope https://stonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Heliotrope_JayaKhurana.mp4
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, Reviewed by Sierra, 11
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser is a charming realistic fiction tale about the true meaning of home. When I first picked up this book, I had doubts about reading it; the cover art was only a bunch of tall buildings with a few tiny human silhouettes depicted in the windows. However, there’s so much more to those small shadows. The phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” has never been truer. The first book in a series of four and counting, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street follows the action-packed life of the boisterous Vanderbeeker family, consisting of five children aged four through twelve: Isa, Jessie, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney, and three pets: a dog, a cat, and a rabbit. Set in a loving brownstone in modern New York City, the life of the Vanderbeeker family never gets boring; something is always happening. On a fateful afternoon just eleven days before Christmas, the children discover that their highly secretive landlord refusesto renew their lease. They quickly become determined to save their beloved home. They come up with plans, some ridiculous and some not, to win over their landlord who lives on the third story of their brownstone. The siblings make many failed attempts, and several only cause their landlord to be even angrier. The blend of suspense and typical family life are perfect in this book. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street is peppered with details that make the overarching plot seem believable. I also enjoy how the book is told from different perspectives – although the story is written in third person, it reveals the thoughts and opinions of all five children. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street has amusing subplots, in this case separate goals that each child wants to achieve besides rescuing their home. They range from Laney teaching her pet rabbit tricks with her adored senior neighbor, to Hyacinth preparing the perfect Christmas gifts for her family, to the twins Isa and Jessie cooking a flawless holiday dinner without any burnt dishes. Better yet, a surprising plot twist comes up about two-thirds of the way through the novel. It shocked me when I first read it, but when I thought about it, there had been foreshadowing embedded into the earlier sections of the novel. While the book is officially recommended for ages eight to twelve, I feel like it would resonate better with slightly older children, perhaps ages ten to thirteen. To me, some of the plot might be too complex for an eight year old; the characters are also more relatable for older readers. This book is also ideal for fans of The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall; it has several similarities, including the aspect of a large family with many children. After reading both series, I found that a few of the characters in The Vanderbeekers series had a loose resemblance to the characters in The Penderwicks. For example, the independent and responsible character of Rosalind in The Penderwicks reminded me of Isa from The Vanderbeekers. Still, the plots of the two series are quite different; The Vanderbeekers series focuses more on family life with a sense of mystery while The Penderwicks series shifts more between family and school life. Overall, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser is an excellent read and a warm and satisfying story. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser. Houghton Mifflin, 2018. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
