A year ago I signed up for something called Oregon Battle of the Books. I was discussing with my team which book I should read, and they suggested Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. At first I did not want to read it because I saw how thick the book was, and I thought it was a chapter book, so I did not want to read it, but I took the book home anyways, and I looked at the cover. It looked like it was some tips for girls who roller skate. I wanted to see what the pages looked like, and I was surprised. It was a comic book. I immediately sat on the couch and read the book. The book is about a girl named Astrid. She and her best friend, Nicole, do everything together, but when Astrid signs up for roller skating she thinks Nicole will sign up for it too, but instead Nicole signs up for dance classes. And from there on, there is so much change and struggle for Astrid, because she keeps falling while trying to do roller skating, she got made fun of a lot at camp, and her coach keeps saying negative things about her. Astrid’s dream is that she wants to be like Rainbow Bite, the best roller skater in the roller derby, but Astrid is still the worst on her team. Later on she keeps moving up the ranks from 12 to 9 to 4 because she keeps on practicing and practicing, and competes in the roller derby because she got so much practice. The theme of the book is friendship. Friendship is important, and if you don’t have friendship then you won’t have any fun in your life. I once had a friend that was really shy and barely ever talked to anyone except for the teachers. I saw that he would just sit in the corner every day during recess, so I asked him to come over to us and play, and now he is really popular in school, and he is happy because he had friends with him. I think that the author would want us to see in friendship that you will keep making friends on the way if you keep on trying hard. Another theme that I would say that fits this book is hard working because she had to keep trying to achieve her goal. An example is that she kept going to derby camp and kept failing and was the lowest in her camp, so she practiced hard by roller skating every day, and finally she got the hang of it because she did a lot of hard work. My favorite part in the story is where Astrid goes to derby camp. It is my favorite part in the book because that is where all of the trouble starts. For example she starts falling down a lot on her first try, and she was being made fun of because of that she keeps on struggling, but later on gets better. Read this book called Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. Dial Books, 2015. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Writing Workshop #29: Rhythm, Phrasing, Cadence, & Narrative Arc
An update from our twenty-ninth Writing Workshop! A summary of the workshop held on Saturday November 21, plus some of the output published below This week William returned to talk about rhythm, phrasing and cadence in writing, with a focus on the impact of short sentences, and the relationships between music, painting, and writing. We read sections from Song of Hiawatha (Longfellow, 1855) for its rhythm, Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities for their defferent versions of extra-long sentences, aloud, thinking about they impact of these stylistic choices on the reader. We listened to some performances of evocative music such as Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (the short sentence of its “Da-da-da-da”) and Rimsky Korsakoff’s “Flight of the Bumblebee,” comparing and contrasting with more lyrical, flowing phrases. The Writing Challenge: Chose one of these three approaches to your piece of writing: – Short first sentence… – Start in the middle with long ranging stances that may be held together with the glue of dashes. Don’t be overly concerned with perfect grammar on this first pass. – Write in short sentences. Entirely or mostly. The Participants: Madeline, Helen, Liam, Keyang, Anna, Lucy, Samantha, Charlotte K, Anya, Jonathan, Tilly, Margaret, Olivia, Angela, Ava, Emma, Maddie, Enni, Ying, Analise, Nova, Rachael, Madeline S, Juniper, Janani, Lucy, Georgia, Elbert, Suman, Lena D, Sophie, Tegan, Peri, Lina K, Charlotte M, Nami. Araliya, 11Sandy Hook, CT The Statue Araliya, 11 I ran as fast as I could. Dashing through the thick brush. The moon followed. I heard loud footsteps behind me. I ran faster. Then I came across an abandoned building. I ran towards the building as a dark figure approached the clearing I had been at before. The dark figure looked around to see where I was. With no luck of finding me, it walked away. Once the dark figure left, I went to look around the abandoned building. I came across a statue of a raven. I looked into the ruby red eyes of the statue as though to be alive. As I walked away, I looked back to see that the raven statue was gone. I look around wondering where it could be because I know that it could not have just come alive and walk away, could it? I ran out of the building terrified. I ran back into the woods just to find the dark figure running towards me. I turn around and I run into the raven statue. I look back to find the dark figure and then it hit me. The dark figure was the raven statue. The dark figure was a shapeshifter. Lena D., 12Coarsegold, CA A Room, My Room Lena D., 12 The floorboards creaked as I entered the hallway. My bedroom door was open a crack, so I pushed my door back as I entered my dark room, the fan looming over me like dozens of eyes. I turned on my lamp which hadn’t been dusted in weeks The photos of my photo collage stared at me as I remembered when I took those photos. Me when I was eleven, with my brother on the day before Easter. A photo of my grandparents’ cat. All of those memories enveloped me like a blanket that secured around me. The sun shined in my eyes as I closed them, wondering what it would be like when I grew up. I leaned against the cold wall against my bedroom and wished that this pandemic would stop. Underneath the photos, there lay a cardboard shelf, which I hadn’t put anything in there in days My desk, which I got when I was ten, had a bunch of stuff on it. Christmas cards for my friends Sketchbooks for me to draw on. A photo frame with pink fabric that had a rainbow embroidered onto it. On the left there lay a turtle lamp, which my grandmother gave to me. On the right, there lay a can of my pens that I hadn’t used that much. Next to my bedside table, there lay a bookcase, which I turned into a dresser. I bought a mirror with my own allowance, and beneath there lay my hairbrush. Dust. Nothing but dust. Clouds came into the distance, pouring sudden raindrops as I looked out my window, listening to music with my headphones plugged into my ears. Not a noise. I took my headphones out of my ears to hear loud birds chirping in the distance as I crawled under the blankets to hear my dog barking, at a package that just arrived. Peri Gordon, 11Sherman Oaks, CA Uncontrollable Peri Gordon, 11 It would only spread. It was huge. It was larger than any other that I’d seen, even on television. It was picking up speed faster than I could bear, faster than anyone could control. It ravaged buildings, which couldn’t control their stillness. It murdered people, who couldn’t control their small size. Orange, red, yellow, who knew? It was all those things that we are not. We are not powerful, or unstoppable, or undefeatable. The fire was still picking up speed. I ran. My friends ran. My family ran. We all ran. We didn’t know where, or why, or how. We were weak. We were tired. The fire was angry, punishing. Why? I didn’t know the answer. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to save anyone. I couldn’t bring my home with me. I hoped to bring my friends with me, my family with me. Because I understood something. The fire wasn’t controllable. But neither were we. Enni Harlan, 14Los Angeles, CA Cunning Enni Harlan, 14 The sea is dark. The sky is darker. The waves are murky. The air is clear. The floor is shaking, this way and that, jerked around like a kite in a storm. I cannot see my feet, and yet I feel them trembling, planted on the moving deck. Waves crash against the scarlet hull–at least I know it was scarlet in daytime. At night, where we stand, the
Pecky’s Bravery Saves the Forest
Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was an ordinary bird, Pecky. Pecky was a plain looking, shy, and reserved hummingbird. She was not particularly strong, nor considered herself brave. She was always leaning on her parents. Her family lived in The Silent Woods, named by the mayor, Mr. Fluffy Tail. Despite the name, the forest was anything but quiet. The chitter-chatter of all the creatures, from rodents to leopards, echoed through the babbling streams to the forest sky. On one memorable day, the birds went wild screeching for help while the foxes, bears, and raccoons chatted up a storm about what would become of them. The energy in the forest felt like a birthday party with thousands of animals all talking at once. The billowing smoke started to seep through the tree branches. Red sparks lit up the dry bushes and leaves then quickly burned along the tree bark. The inferno had begun to creep close to their adobe. In a wave of panic, Pecky started to see how this huge wall of fire would demolish her habitat, the food source, and endanger her family and friends’ lives. Hopelessness swept over her like a snowy avalanche. She felt as terrified as a mouse stuck in a glue trap. Initially, Pecky just froze and did nothing to help change her situation. She figured that the stronger bears could just break through the trees to put out the fires, and the foxes could just dash back and forth to bring buckets of water. She thought to herself, “Couldn’t the other animals take care of this problem?” At the same time, she doubted her feeble wings, her dainty toes, or her tiny brain can compare to the other mighty creatures. So she didn’t do anything and just stood idle. Yet as time passed by, she heard her friends’ desperate cries for help, holding onto each other with tears streaming down their faces. Many others scurried around looking for cover and safety from the fire that seared through the trees. As she watched the treetops crumble into ashes, the twigs in their family nest fall apart, and dying worms drop down to the ground, she realized that she had to contribute with whatever skills and talents she possessed or risk losing the home and family she loved. Regardless of her size and strength, she was now determined to figure out a solution just by being herself. Pecky found a high branch. Using her loudest outdoor voice, she shouted: “Pack your bags! Put on your fire-proof clothing! Run towards the lake!” She felt so small and insignificant believing she couldn’t change the fate of what would become of her family and friends. Pecky used her agile moves to flap her nimble wings to create gusts of wind to try to put out some small flames. For a while it seemed like the fire was retracting, but then another burst of flames exploded towards the forest like fresh lava spewing out of a volcano. She felt dejected but didn’t let it paralyze her. She immediately started gathering the bigger birds to line up above the nearby lake and asked them to flap their wings in unison. She joined the effort despite having the smallest wings. This movement blew the water out of the lake towards the flame, extinguishing the fire until it was no more. In this story, Pecky was just an ordinary bird that did extraordinary things. She saved the forest from being burned down which gave her family and furry friends a home to return to. In real life, there are scary wildfires that harm people, ruin entire communities, and also endanger animals and their habitat. Sometimes, when life gets hard, I tell myself I am not the strongest, fastest, or smartest to overcome it to make any real difference. It’s easy to just walk away and shrug the problem off my shoulders and let others solve it. Pecky is me. I know I have the gift of a strong voice and I want to be the change that I want to see. Although I can’t put out a forest fire, or completely get rid of pollution, or stop ice caps from melting, I can do little things with lots of love. When I see a piece of trash on the playground, I can pick it up rather than leave it there and wait for someone else to throw it away. Instead of running the car to go to near-by places, I can ride my bike so there is less exhaust and smog in the air. I can show care by talking and keeping my friend company when they feel down. I believe every life is precious and deserves to be treated well. Not only that, I matter because I am special and unique in my own way. The world is a stage where everyone plays a part. I play a small yet important part of this enormous “stage” that is our planet, for I have spirit, life, and a voice. There are basic human traits that everyone should have like honesty, kindness, loyalty, and generosity. Just like Pecky, when we get knocked down and drained of hope, we can get back up and fight with strength and words, with friends by our side. I can make a difference in this world, for I matter.
