Twins are always known to be together even when apart, but have you ever read a book where the relationship between a pair of twins is slightly uneven? Hidden under the sleeve of every argument or ignorant glance, siblings will always have affection for one another; that’s the true beauty of having someone related to you by birth, let alone grow to the same heartbeat! Rea and the Blood of the Nectar by Payal Doshi is a book that encompasses magical wonders, presents foreign worlds in a new way, and represents sibling love! With seemingly unsolvable riddles, nightmares with hidden clues, and a new friend, the main protagonist, Rea, trudges her way to find her kidnapped twin brother, Rohan. The story is set in Darjeeling, India, where Rea lives with her mother, grandmother, and Rohan. Rea was never born with a silver spoon. Her mother has to work long hours by cleaning houses or by picking tea leaves at a tea plantation, just to make a living. Having to live under her brother’s shadow, who excels at everything compared to her, Rea feels pressure and sibling rivalry. For as long as they can remember, Rea and Rohan have always celebrated their birthday together. However, this time around, things were different. When the clock strikes midnight, Rohan slips out of bed to play cricket with his friends on their twelfth birthday. Rea secretly follows him. Longing to partake in the sport, she joins the opposing team and emerges victorious. Following Rea’s victory, Rohan walks away– puddled in a cloud of embarrassment – and mysteriously goes missing! Rohan’s disappearance and the strange reaction by her family to this untimely event left Rea suspicious. Holding herself responsible, she sets a new goal for herself: finding Rohan! As Rea sets out on her quest, she meets a fortune-teller and picks up clues on Rohan’s whereabouts. The story gains momentum as Rea discovers a mysterious portal in Darjeeling! With the help of her new friend, Rea embarks on a life-changing adventure, gripping onto the hope of finding her lost brother. Books that involve the evolution of the main character as a person are inspiring and entertaining. Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is one such book that perfectly portrays character development. At the start of the book, Rea’s selfish and demanding nature left her lonely and self-contained. However, once she portals into the kingdom of Astranthia, she uncovers new secrets about her family. While entering the world, Rea only had one goal– saving Rohan. An encounter with the evil queen, Razya, leads to a change in plans; Rea has to protect the kingdom of Astranthia and save her twin! Astranthia thrives on the sacred petals of the Som, and its nectar is used by the royal family and some common folk as powerful beams. The only way to unlock the powers of the blood nectar is to go on a personal trial. After saving a mob of people who were hurt by the queen’s guard, Rea slowly starts uncovering all of the secrets about herself, including her family. Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is a family-centered, magical tale. With the neatly woven theme of personal growth and perseverance, Payal Doshi can warm any reader’s heart with her well-organized plot twists. The captivating storyline ends with the celebration of Diwali in their village in Darjeeling. This Indian holiday celebrates the triumph of good over evil, resonating with Rea’s victory over the reign of Astranthia’s evil queen. Rea and the Blood of the Nectar explicitly reflects Payal Doshi’s culture-bound allusions and vivid imagery that revolves around show-stopping characters and a compelling self-growth theme! Rea and the Blood of the Nectar by Payal Doshi. Mango & Marigold Press, 2021. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
How Stories Work-Writing Workshop #4: Dialogue
An update from the fourth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday May 8, plus some of the output published below This week’s workshop on dialogue was led by the inimitable duo of Stone Soup ’20-21 Intern Anya Geist, 14, and Stone Soup contributor Madeline Nohrnberg, 14. The workshop began with a warm up activity challenging participants to write a scene of dialogue between two characters who hate each other talking about the weather, without ever explicitly saying they hated each other. For the purpose of their lecture, Anya and Madeline focused on various techniques of dialogue, beginning with an excerpt from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in order to show the technique of conveying lies. The next technique discussed was how to make dialogue seem realistic. Anya and Madeline had participants pick out lines from an excerpt of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders in order to pinpoint instances of realistic dialogue. Following this discussion was an excerpt from The Secret Garden that Madeline used in order to showcase the use of accents in dialogue. The next technique discussed was tone and context. We read an excerpted discussion between Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in which Dumbledore’s playful tone and unwillingness to address McGonagall’s more serious topic of discussion conveyed the complexity of subtext within dialogue. Then, in order to convey emphasis, Anya and Madeline utilized an excerpt from Madeleine L’Engle’s The Moon by Night that used italics in order emphasize specific words. In conclusion, Anya and Madeline summarized their techniques by grouping them into two categories; one, by using tone as in the case of The Importance of Being Earnest and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and, two, by using informal language to make dialogue sound realistic as in the other three examples. As always, at the end of the lecture we wrote! The Challenge: Either as a stand-alone or as part of a larger work, write a scene where the dialogue and exchanges between the characters are expressive. The Participants: (Anya and Madeline) Georgia, Jackson, Lucy, Sophia, Svitra, Liam, Aditi, Emma, Zhilin, Simran, Noa, Julia, Sasha, Sinan, Harine, Isolde, Josh, Sena, Alice, Samantha, Emi Emma Hoff, 9,(Bronx, NY) Practical Advice Emma Hoff, 9 “I drew a good picture today. You wanna see?” I asked. “I heard that if you cut off a chicken’s head, it’ll keep running. That true?” asked Uncle Morris, puffing on a cigarette. “Why are you asking me? And anyways, what does that have to do with art?” “Know it or not?” “I don’t!” “It’s true.” “What’s the point of this?” “The point of this, Robin, is ‘cause I’m trying to tell you that silly pictures don’t matter. Silly pictures won’t make you a living.” “Artists make money.” “Not with silly pictures. Not with silly childish pictures.” “I’m not a grownup yet! I’ll get better as I grow! Anyways, you haven’t even seen the picture!” “It of a chicken?” “NO!” “It of a cow?” “Stop playin’ around, Uncle Morris!” “I ain’t playin’, Robin.” “Then what are you doing?” “I’m here to take care of you, you know that, Robin. Your parents said that if something ever happened to them, I gotta take care of you. Something happened. You’ve been on this farm for months, and you still don’t understand that you gotta be a farmer. Everything else, too dangerous. I want to keep an eye on you. I don’t want you to die like your parents did!” “I’m not going to.” “How do you know?” “I just do. Drawing isn’t dangerous. Loving doing what you love to do isn’t dangerous.” “Robin, let me tell you a story. About your parents.” “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” “Have it your way.” “Uncle Morris, don’t you understand? Being a farmer… it might not be dangerous, but no one likes farmers. No one I know, anyways. The kids at school call me Pork, because of how I hang out with the pigs, and draw them.” “Don’t listen to them kids. They don’t know anything. You, however, need to know that you are a farmer, through and through!” “But I’m not! I love animals, but I don’t like butchering them. Heck, I’m a vegetarian! I don’t want to work in fields all day. I want to draw nature, but not harvest it!” “Lazy girl.” “I’m not lazy! I just like drawing! Don’t you understand?” “I don’t. Not at all. But I’ll agree with you… for now.” Sena Pollock, 14,(Madison, WI) Somebody Else’s Sister Sena Pollock, 14 “Come on, we’re going to be late.” “Okay, okay. I’m coming. Just let me finish the chapter.” “No, you can’t. You have to come right now. Otherwise I’ll miss the first part.” “It’s just your stupid dancing rehearsal. It’s not like a job interview or anything.” “It is not stupid. And at least I have the courtesy to not make you late to one of your playdates with your weird friends.” “They aren’t playdates, we just go to the park and hang out. And they aren’t that weird.” “Sounds like a playdate to me. And what do you mean, they aren’t weird? You spend all your time talking about how weird they are.” “That’s different. I mean it in a good way.” “What
Impact of COVID: A Positive Introspection
Tarini Arora, 13
