Warning: Once you open The Doughnut King, you’ll be stuck in the story for eternity. Start reading it, and you’ll never stop. Well, that is, until author Jessie Janowitz decides to free you by officially changing the story. The Doughnut King is filled with the perfect amount of action and sweetness, enough to create a robust portal that transports you into the story. Meet Tristan Levin, known as Tris. Tris has been cooking and baking before he learned how to say “food.” Tris moves to a small town in New York called Petersville. Petersville is slowly disappearing, but not the way you think it is. Every year, only a couple of families move to Petersville. A couple, as in two or three. More people move away than people who move to Petersville, and the mayor of Petersville, Jim, thinks this needs to be stopped. There are only one stoplight and a couple of shops. Tris has a doughnut shop he runs in Petersville with his friend Josh, called The Doughnut Stop. The Doughnut Shop’s doughnuts are impressive, according to everyone. Jim thinks food will keep Petersville from disappearing and makes that a goal. Tris needs to make more doughnuts, but he and Josh are already trying their best. Many people come to get doughnuts but have to wait four hours, only to see the words: SOLD OUT. If only there would be a way to make more donuts, he could maybe save Petersville. Even more excitement awaits in the book. Tris finds a solution to the doughnut problem: A Doughnut Robot. This robot makes ninety dozens donuts an hour, which is perfect for their business. Actually, even better than perfect. There’s a big problem, though, which is that the Doughnut Robot costs $50,000. Now Tris’s whole family knows about the Doughnut Robot and its cost. Before he knows it, his nine-year-old sister Jeanine has secretly sent an audition video to a famous cooking contest, “Can You Cut It?” and they accept the video. Tris is mad, but the rest of the family thinks it is a fantastic idea, and mostly because if he wins, he gets $100,000, enough to buy a Doughnut Robot. Tris is still unsure if he has enough courage and talent to win the prize, though. The book is fantastic, with many surprising and unexpected features. But some elements in the book confuse me, especially in the first few chapters. In chapter three, Tris sees a comment that tells how bad the Doughnut Stop is, and he tries to delete it but can’t, and then Josh walks in. Tris asks him how to delete them, and Josh tells him he forgot and didn’t finish, and then it says: “But Josh didn’t need to finish. The truth was floating right over his head in caps.” What truth? It doesn’t clarify what truth it talks about in the book. Then Tris says Josh lied. Lied about what? Why did he lie? The dialogue is very unclear in those pages, which often confuses people. Nevertheless, The Doughnut King’s story is embedded in unexpected but fascinating characters, settings, and plots. Predict what will happen, and you will probably be surprised; unpredictable always, always, happens in The Doughnut King. The Doughnut King is highly recommended to any reader, especially those who love baking and cooking. Anyone can enjoy such an incredible book. The Doughnut King by Jessie Janowitz. Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2020. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
When You Reach Me, Reviewed by Pragnya, 12
Have you ever looked out the window and wished for something extraordinary to happen? Well, in Mira’s case, extraordinary things come looking for her. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is a perfect portrayal of how extraordinary things can happen in what seemed to be an ordinary life. Set in 1970s New York, the reader follows the engrossing voice of 12-year-old Miranda Sinclair, a curious, imaginative tween, who makes you travel straight into the heart of her life, with a complete tour of the Upper West Side, making you feel part of it. In the beginning, Miranda’s life seems pretty normal until one day, when herself and her best friend Sal were walking back from school, a boy simply walks up and punches Sal in the face. At first, it seems like a simple case of bullying, but ever since the incident, weird things start happening. Miranda’s house key goes missing, and then she gets a mysterious note that says: ‘M, I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I ask for two favors. First, you must write me a letter.’ The notes keep on coming, and with increasing weirdness. For example, when she shows the first note to her mother, the second note tells her not to show them to anyone, which meant that she was alone. With further investigation and occurrences that seem more than a simple coincidence with the cryptic notes, the plot slowly starts unravelling, and Miranda, along with us, discovers an eerily fictitious yet somehow realistic mystery involving her interactions with Marcus, the boy who punched Sal, the laughing man-a homeless person living under a mailbox on Miranda’s street, the book A Wrinkle in Time, and a lot more cleverly added details that make you want to scour this book for clues. This book amazes me with its perfect balance between fiction and reality, as it contains all the perfect elements of a typical middle grade novel; friendships, rivalry, even a bit of romance, but it also contains a je-ne-seis-quoi of sorts, with its air of mystique and suspense that just urges you to turn the page over and find out what happens next. Another fascinating thing about this book is its genre. Even though it is labelled as science- fiction, or mystery, I think this phrase from the novel sums it all up perfectly, and that this book explores the depths of ‘life, death and the beauty of it all.’ To say this book is well-written is an understatement, and its coming-of-age story will definitely make you enjoy the book, and I am sure this it will linger in your mind long after you have finished it. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Yearling Books, 2010. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Writing Workshop #28: Word Choice
An update from our twenty-eighth Writing Workshop! A summary of the workshop held on Saturday November 14, plus some of the output published below This week we focused on word choice as a way for writers to be sure they have conveyed their meaning as they meant to, and so that their readers will understand it. We looked at different approaches to considering choice of words, from expanding on idea by showing, rather than telling; to finding alternative words using synonyms and antonyms (with a warning about the possible pitfalls of the Thesaurus!); and a reminder about editing and re-writing (“Murder your darlings”). We briefly compared the first draft to the final version of Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem for Doomed Youth and discussed how we felt about the various changes he had made–some of them ruthless–and how they strengthened the work. Then, we talked about 6-word stories, and how the work of cutting down one’s work can focus the reader (and the writer) on the key elements of your story. The Writing Challenge: Write a short story in 5 minutes; then spend the rest of the time analysing and cutting it down to the essentials, to make a 6-word story. The Participants: Charlotte, Lena, Georgia, Lena, Sadie, Angela, Anna, Anya, Ava, Charlotte, Elbert, Emma, Enni, Helen, Janani, Jonathan, Juniper, Keyang, Liam, Lina, Lucy, Ma’ayan, Madeline, Margaret, Olivia, Peri, Rithesh, Samantha, Nova, Teagan, Tilly, Ever. Anya Geist, 14Worcester, MA Ruins Crumble Anya Geist, 14 Original The wind softly blew, just a puff of breath. But it was a breath, it was alive, unlike the ruins over which it looked. The walls were crumbled and decayed, nearly churned to dust on the ground; the largest structure remaining was an archway where a door once stood. The trees all around the ruins were slumped and hunched, their long delicate fingers bent toward the ground in a perpetual state of mourning. Because in all honesty, this was a funeral. A funeral that had been going on for decades, as the coffin—the house—was slowly lowered into the ground; and the wind was its family, leaving it one last kiss as it departed from the world of the living. Six word version Ruins crumble in a gentle wind. Peri Gordon, 11Sherman Oaks, CA The Near-Doom Incident Peri Gordon, 11 Original We were hiking. I didn’t want to stroll. I stretched my legs and launched ahead of my parents, feet flying freely over the sandy trail. The foliage glittered around me like green and brown angels, but I paid no notice. I arrived at a place where a family was, positioned as if struggling to see something, but all I saw was rough, brown ground. They called for me to stop. My parents caught up. “Peri, they were taking a picture!” But no, they were not. The family pointed at a small, slithering thing snaking its way up the path. A rattlesnake. We showed our gratitude to the family that had saved me from doom, and we were on our way. No more running. Six word version Dashing ahead. Snake. Could’ve been doomed. Liam Hancock, 13Danville, CA Demons Liam Hancock, 13 Original Quaking fingers trace the deepest curves of the cup. A glass half full to me, half empty to her. Memories play out in her mind—memories of a battlefield where shells litter the ground alongside fighters. Fighter. She’s a fighter with no weapon. Enemy. She’s an enemy whose hands are clean of sin. Haunted. She is haunted, but those of us who have seen the worst are those of us whose lips are sealed the tightest. Six word version Today’s demons will haunt us tomorrow. Lina Kim, 10Weston, FL Too ManyOriginal Lina Kim, 10 Original A wolf. Two wolves, three wolves. Emerging from the pack. I stand before them. Too many. I am alone; they are too many to count. Will no one come to my aid? The alpha growls. I flinch. What to do? There are too many. Too many to befriend them all, to bend them towards trusting me. Too many to fight. Too many to ignore. Oh, how I wish they could be ignored. I do not wish to be torn apart. I would not wish that upon my worst enemy. Actually, I did once wish that upon my worst enemy. Too many. I cannot run for my life. I cannot fight back. I cannot do anything but stand, stand, stand, waiting to be rescued or torn apart. A rustle. Two, three, four rustles. Several more rustles of the leaves. Is someone coming to save me? More rustles. My pack rushes towards me. To fight against the others. I join them in the fight. I am the Zeta1. I am the general. I will help my family fight. Tonight, We will win. 1the Zeta is the lead warrior in a wolf pack. Six word version I lead my pack into battle. Elbert Park, 8Palo Alta, CA Untitled Elbert Park, 8 Original The rain was pouring. I had no protection. I had maximum adrenaline. I had to run, but I had nowhere to go soon. The coast was nearing, and that meant that either I was trapped and came out dead, or I was trapped and came out alive. I made a berserk run to the coast and soon washed up against it. . . I took for cover in a nearby house. It only took seconds, but for me it felt like an eternity. . . Six word version Rain pours No mercy I’m trapped Lucy Rados, 13Buffalo, NY Untitled Lucy Rados, 13 Original Lola stared wistfully outside the green glass window, waiting for her father, secretly knowing that he wouldn’t show up. It was like this every day, her absent father, her mother lying in bed of a sickness that never seemed to fade. Lola just wanted a normal happy, family. Instead she was stuck in this cycle of being the odd girl, the one left out of the rest of the
