An update from our twenty-sixth Book Club meeting! On April 24, in the first meeting of our new session, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin. In the book, a girl named Minli embarks on an adventure filled with mythical creatures and interwoven stories to find the Old Man in the Moon and change her family’s fortune. After coming up with a few “ground rules” for our new session to make sure we all have the best time possible, we split up into breakout rooms of three and four to get to know each other. The prompt for these rooms was to talk about your favorite book, and it seems like there were a lot of similarities between people! Then, back in the main group, we quickly discussed our general impressions of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, before heading into two breakout rooms (led by myself and one of our Book Club facilitators, Lucy) to talk more in-depth. We had fascinating conversations about the characters, setting, plot, and theme of the book! One of the most distinct things about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon are the illustrations featured throughout it. We agreed that the drawings helped us picture the scenes and the characters, and that their style fit in with the writing in the book. This prompted a conversation about art in books, and how art is utilized in stories. We looked at the art in books such as The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick as examples. Our last activity was regarding the presence of Chinese mythology in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. We talked about how the mythology fit into the story, whether we like having mythology in stories, and what the best way to include mythology is: literally or interpretively. Finally, we chose our next book for Book Club, which is listed below! Our Next Book (to be discussed on May 29): Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, by Jason Reynolds
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Echo, Reviewed by Pragnya, 12
Sometimes the most unexpected things can change your life forever. New York Times Bestselling Author Pam Munoz Ryan’s Echo is a story about the power of music, family and just exactly how much the world can impact you. The story, which takes place across multiple storylines, starts with Otto Messenger, who, while in the midst of a game of hide and seek, finds himself in a forbidden forest and no sooner, tangled into a prophecy, a mysterious harmonica and three sisters placed under a spell which only could be broken by a messenger. 50 years later, the very same harmonica is placed into the lives of Friedrich, Mike and Ivy, three children living very different lives, except for the one thing they had in common-their ability to find solace in music. Friedrich, living in 1940s Germany is faced with crisis when his father is taken captive. Mike, an orphan living with his brother, Frankie’s lives are turned upside down when they are adopted by Ms. Stuebridge, a rich widow with a mansion in the countryside who has more to her personality than what meets the eye. Ivy Lopez discovers she is forced to move to Fresno, away from her old home and into a new life filled with new people whom she isn’t used to. But through the power of music and friends they make along the way, they manage to restore balance in themselves and break the three sisters’ curse. Ryan manages to weave innocence and simple pleasures into a war-ridden world, and everyday experiences through the light of three sixth graders. Easily likable characters and their internal conflict adds a lot to the story as it enables you to only step more into the shoes of the protagonists’ lives. A particular highlight of the story were the descriptions, specifically the emotions felt during the performance. The rich imagery moves you into a haven tucked away from the world, where every note wrapped you up in a story they were meant to tell. Filled with eloquent, simple yet effective prose, characters readers will thoroughly find themselves attached to, and a vivid glimpse into what the past was like, Echo will take your breath away from the first strike until the very last note. Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Scholastic, 2015. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
If I Could Write a Letter to the World
If I could write a letter to the world I’d ask. What about me? In ten years I’ll be 22. What will the world look like then? The worlds past generations have left us. The world where leaders aren’t leaders and peace isn’t peace and answers aren’t Answers and it’s all falling down and I’m tired. Where the clear blue sky will only be a distant memory and the west will be little more Than scorched land. Will there still be injustice? Prophet of doom, pleased to meet you. It doesn’t affect us. I’ve heard that more than enough. But that doesn’t mean you stop fighting. And maybe it’ll never be enough. We are so much better than this We were great. Are we? Were we? Is great coming and claiming and stealing and colonizing and reinventing and lying then finding and taking and enslaving and reinventing and attempting and upheaving and Incarcerating and reinventing and deporting and killing and reinventing and reinventing And reinventing. And reinventing. And burying And denying And justifying for your own comfort. We don’t change by forgetting. We change by remembering. We don’t change by trying. We change by doing. This is us. This has always been us. In ten years I’ll be 22 will it still be the same? Will it? Will it be screams and shouts and flags from lost causes and glass shattering and anarchy and chaos and then we are raised fists and open palms and singing and hoping we shall overcome and guns pointed and we have to kneel? Someday… Is that the world you want to leave to me? to them? to us?
