“Sunny Beach” (Procreate) by Emi Le, 13 (Millbrae, CA) and published in the March 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from William Today, from me, mostly news—which is appropriate for a newsletter. Exciting news! Our very own Abhi Sukhdial’s novella, Three Days Till EOC, the winner of our 2019 Book Contest, has been long-listed for the Green Earth Book Award under Young Adult Fiction! So, congratulations are in order to Abhi and his family. This news comes just one week after Three Days Till EOC was given a glowing review by author Adam Rex, which you can check out here. Dan Bloom, one of the founders of the cli-fi (climate science fiction) genre and editor of The Cli-Fi Report, wrote in his review of Three Days Till EOC that he, “at the age of 71-going-on-72 enjoyed every page” and proclaimed Abhi “a young writer to watch!” Summer classes: The schedule for summer classes will be sent out toward the end of the week. Like last year, we are teaming up with Naomi Kinsman’s wonderful Society of Young Inklings. I am also very very very excited to be able to tell you that our brilliant editor, Emma Wood, will be teaching a writing class, as will her husband, Conner Bassett, also a published writer and a creative writing instructor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Two other Stone Soup staff are also offering classes: Laura Moran, from the book group, is offering a class that takes an anthropologist’s approach to personal narrative, and Jane Levi is offering a class in food writing. Saturday writing classes will continue during the summer. What if the classes fill? All classes will have a waitlist. Naomi has a number of teachers already on her staff, so we anticipate being able to meet increased demand. Next-session Saturday Writing Classes: Registration is going to open soon for the next session of Saturday Writing Classes. This will take us from April to the summer. The fabulous news is that we are expanding the program! Conner Bassett, who I mentioned above, is going to begin teaching on Saturdays. Conner has a reputation as a brilliant and inspiring teacher. I am so excited that he is joining our team. Registration will open soon for existing students; after existing students are taken care of, we will open registration to everyone else. We are now committed to expanding the program to meet demand. The limit to our expansion, obviously, is the need to retain the same level of quality. Weekend Project: The main problem for me about this newsletter is that, by custom, newsletters are supposed to short and I find short hard to do! The evocative digital painting Sunny Beach by Emi Le is the perfect illustration for Raya Ilieva’s “Sand and Sea.” I really like the ambiguity in Emi’s painting. I live near the Pacific Ocean. She captures the feel of the foam advancing (or retreating) from the sand. Please please please read Raya’s “Sand and Sea.” Yes, I cried at the end. But I want you to read the story for the clarity of Raya’s descriptive language. The first paragraph one can say is pure “sense of place.” Note the use of language that creates pictures in our heads—smooth waves, foamy blue sea, empty beach, gritty crystals, etc. Note, too, the description of sand on Kate’s feet. Those of you who have been to the beach will recognize what she says about this. In the next paragraph Kate, the main character, is given a physical description—of her eyes. Brilliantly, Raya ties in her description of Kate’s eyes both with her emotional state—a hint to us of things to come—and where she is. Raya continues with a clear descriptive vision from the beginning of her story to the end. I want you study how Raya brings alive her character and her world. “Sand and Sea” is also a classic in the sense that the problem that Kate is dealing with is one of these life problems that many of us have experienced. So, I’d like you to write a story that begins with a paragraph that sets up the scene where the story is opening; then, in the second paragraph, share with us at least one key aspect of how the character looks, and then let the story flow, trying throughout to be precise with your descriptions. As always, if you feel your work turned out strong, then please go to Stonesoup.com and submit the work so that Emma can consider it for Stone Soup. Until next time, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Georgia, 11, wrote a lovely “Ode to Books.” Do you feel the same way that Georgia does about books? If you were a fruit, what kind would you be? Trevor, one of our bloggers, explains why he thinks his mom would be a Dragonfruit. Check out his post on the blog. Contest, partnership & project news There’s still time to submit to the Monthly Flash Contest. Here’s the prompt for this month, by Contributor Molly Torinus: Write a story set somewhere you’ve never been. It could be set in outer space, Antarctica, or even an alternate reality! And here’s where you can submit your entry. From Stone Soup March 2021 Sand and Sea By Raya Ilieva, 10 (Belmont, CA) Illustration by Emi Le, 13 (Millbrae, CA) Smooth waves of water crested up out of the foamy blue sea and crashed down on the empty beach, rushing out along a darkened strip of sand, and then were sucked back into the depths of the blue ocean. Kate paced the rough sand, gritty crystals coating her bare feet and tickling her ankles. A heavy fog hung over the beach, covering the sky and the air in a thick gray mass that did nothing to help lighten Kate’s mood. Her usually warm light-gray eyes were stormy, dark, and wild and focused on the never-ending expanse of sand and water
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Book Club Report: The Thing About Jellyfish, Ali Benjamin
An update from our twenty-fourth Book Club meeting! On Saturday, February 27, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed The Thing About Jellyfish, by Ali Benjamin. The story is moving; it is about a girl named Suzy, who is coming to terms with the unexpected death of her friend, Franny. We were incredibly lucky to have been joined by author Ali Benjamin for around forty minutes of our meeting! Ms. Benjamin graciously answered all of our questions about The Thing About Jellyfish, and about writing in general. She talked to us about what she felt was the ultimate truth of the book—learning to live with uncertainty—as well as about the research she undertook to learn about jellyfish, and how her own life impacted her ideas and her characters. Additionally, she explained how it felt to have written a book that had been a finalist for the National Book Award, and we learned a bit about the world of film and stage adaptations! We are very thankful to Ms. Benjamin for spending this time with us! If you attended this Book Club meeting, we would appreciate it if you write a brief thank-you note to Ms. Benjamin, if you have not done so already. You can email it to me (Anya) at my Stone Soup email address and I will forward it to her! After Ms. Benjamin’s visit, we only had a little bit of time left. We split into three breakout rooms and discussed some questions that related to the central themes of the book: has there ever been a time where you distracted yourself from the truth? Has there ever been a time where you believed something no one else believed? We had great conversations about instances where book characters did something we couldn’t believe, or where we got a different answer to a question than the rest of our class in school. We also talked generally about the book, and mostly agreed that we enjoyed it! It was very fun to hear what everyone had to say! Finally, we chose our next book, which is listed below! Our Next Book (to be discussed March 27): The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, by Jeanne Birdsall
Writing Workshop #34: Magical Realism
An update from our thirty-fourth Writing Workshop! A summary of the workshop held on Saturday February 20, plus some of the output published below This week with Jane we talked about magic or magical realism: stories in which a little magic is introduced into everyday life, often as a metaphor for something important to the life of the main character(s). We discussed the difference between magical realism and fantasy, and agreed that whereas in fantasy we create a whole world that depends on (believable) fantasy for its existence, in magical realism we are fixed in the real world, and a few elements of fantasy slide in. We talked about the magic realism in the myth of Daedalus and Icarus (real humans with their attempt at real, failed wings), and read an excerpt from Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude where a (funny, rather than scary!) trickle of blood with very precise and unrealistic intention moves through the realistic, streets and around the rugs and furniture in its journey to a kitchen in another house, making us question what is really real. We watched movie clips from Amélie and Midnight in Paris, and considered the unlikely but realistic characters and underlying stories in Stig of the Dump and Skellig. And then we wrote! The Writing Challenge: Create your own work of Magical Realism. Write a story set in real, present-day life, with a few magical elements that have meaning for your characters. The Participants: Madeline K, Peri, Leo, Kaidyn, Georgia, Pranjoli, Nova, Julia, Lindsay, Ismini, Margaret L, Tilly, Lina K, Liam, Sierra, Sophia, Anya, Jonathan, Samantha, Grace, Rachael, Sage, Simran, Olivia Z, Ruhi, Angela, Charlotte, Anna, Madeline, Alice, Emma, Yasmine, Elbert, Lucy R, Charlotte K, Oliver, Iago, Reese, Emi, Olivia S, Enni, Hera, Ava Hannah Nami Gajcowski, 10 (Bellevue, WA) Memory Loss Hannah Nami Gajcowski, 10 He walked with a stride so large. He was as quiet as a mouse. So, I didn’t run when he came, because I did not realize that he was there. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around. The man stared at me, his green eyes twinkling like emeralds. His mouth twitched, and his long, black cloak swayed with the wind. His pale skin glittered, and when he turned away, I saw that he had a long cat’s tail. I knew this man. I did. But I couldn’t place my finger on who he was. I couldn’t place a finger on anything. I tried to think of my name, but I couldn’t remember it. I tried to think of my life, but I couldn’t. I realized, suddenly, that I couldn’t feel anything. It was like my nerves stopped working. I knew that I needed a mirror. Who was I? Who was that man? Where was I? What did I look like? I looked down at my hand. They were gray and looked hard as stone. Was I wearing gloves? They were very interesting gloves. What were gloves? Why didn’t I know what gloves were? Were they things to put on your feet? Or were the things on your feet called socks? What were socks? Did I know anything? I looked down at my feet – toes – whatever they were called. They looked as hard as stone. I reached down to touch them, but I found that my body wouldn’t bend. What was my body? I was losing my memory quickly. What was memory? Was it a beam of light that told you things? Was it a sign of hope, destiny? What was hope and destiny? I began to feel very depressed. Dark thoughts took over my head. Would I be able to get out of here? Where was I? I tried to move, but then I realized that I had been turned into stone. What was stone? How much time had passed? What was time? Questions swarmed in my head. Soon, my eyes began to close. Or maybe they were open. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t see anything. What were eyes? I didn’t know. What was a know? What was a what? What was an a? What was a… Peri Gordon, 11Sherman Oaks, CA Heart and Brain Peri Gordon, 11 I sat at my plain wooden desk and waited for the lunch bell to ring. I didn’t know how to answer the test question, and unless I cheated, I never would. I stared stubbornly at the white tiled classroom floor. I am not going to cheat, I vowed silently. How much guilt would I feel if I did? Oh, but it would be so easy. The smartest kid in the class, if not eighth grade, if not the school, was my desk partner, and she was off sharpening her constantly-in-use pencil. Her test was not being guarded at all, and it was right next to me. And if I didn’t do well on this test, getting grounded for a week would be right around the corner. It was the logical thing to do, right? And as long as I learned the material for next time… “Yeah, right. I am not going to learn anything from copying Samantha’s answer,” my heart told me. My brain said, “But—if mom and dad don’t find out—” “Well, I would know. And I would feel too much shame,” insisted my heart. “Who cares? This is an important test!” “Yeah, too important for cheating.” That’s when I noticed the staring. Every scholarly, ignorant, friendly, and cruel kid in my class was staring at me. And so was the teacher. For some reason, I burst into tears. What had just happened? I hadn’t said anything. No, no, it was my heart speaking and my brain speaking. Speaking to me—no, speaking to everyone, apparently. “That’s quite enough, Shauna,” said Mrs. Allyseth, my teacher. “We’re taking a test, and we don’t want to hear your mumbling, especially not mumbling about cheating. We don’t cheat in Room 37, do we?” “But, Miss Allyseth,” I said, acting like a child and forgetting to
