“Patterns” by Analise Braddock, 9 (Katonah, NY) Published in Stone Soup November 2020 A note from Emma Wow! For us, the shiniest silveriest silver lining of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders has been reading all of the incredible manuscripts that were submitted to our second annual book contest—it is clear that everyone who submitted was able to channel all that time at home into powerful creative work. Although we are only able to give official recognition to some of those writers, all of us were amazed at the attention and skill evident in every one of these manuscripts. Writing a book is HARD. If you submitted, regardless of the outcome for you personally, I hope you will take the time to celebrate your achievement. Our winning novel, Kansas by Tristan Hui, opens when Azalea Morroe falls into another realm—the realm her father claimed he needed to explore to keep his job at the astronomy lab. Though disoriented, Azalea is intent on completing her father’s quest in order to save his livelihood—and his sanity. To reach the perfect vantage point to view the night sky, she must cross an empty, haunted desert in a broken-down truck with a runaway fifteen-year-old as her guide. Their adventure ultimately forces us to consider what makes a home, or a family. In the end, we found we weren’t able to pick just one, so we will also be publishing another novel as an “editor’s choice”: Anya Geist’s Born on the First of Two. In the book, Maya has lived with her aunt in the Land of the Clouds for as long as she can remember, but she was born on Earth—and can’t stop dreaming about traveling back down to it. Earth was where her parents lived, and where they died. One day, desperate to understand the mysterious message on a necklace that belonged to her mother, Maya runs away to Earth, determined to figure out her destiny and her past. Both books will be forthcoming in 2021. We can’t wait for you to read them! Until next week, Congratulations to our 2020 Book Contest Finalists Winner Kansas, a novel by Tristan Hui, 14 Editor’s Choice Born on the First of Two, a novel by Anya Geist, 14 Finalists Earth Matters, a poetry collection by Benjamin Ding, 9 Oliver Garner and the Rebellion of Traitors, a novel by Liam Hancock, 12 Get Myself a Rocking Chair, a novel by Nora Heiskell, 12 The Trials and Tribulations of Swifty Appledoe, a novel by Ariana Kralicek, 12 Alternate Names for Autism, a poetry collection by Rainer Pasca, 14 Semifinalists Journey with Wolves, a novel by Raya Ilieva, 10 Until the End, a novel by Ela Kini, 11 Falling Through a Cloud, a poetry collection by Summer Loh, 8 The Lost City, a novel by Sruti Peddi, 14 Poetry Collection, a poetry collection by Soheon Rhee, 12 Shapeshifted, a novel by Camille Rico, 12 Last Year’s Winner Don’t forget—the winner of last year’s book contest, Three Days till EOC by Abhi Sukhdial, is available for purchase in our online store. Abhi’s book is a climate-fiction thriller that author Zillah Bethell said had her “gripped from start to finish.” Reading from a Stone Soup Author Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, whose poetry collection Searching for Bow and Arrows won second place in last year’s book contest, read aloud some of her work for the Brookline Public Library. She was joined by her father, Dr. Maxim D. Shrayer, who is also a published poet. Check out the recording of the event here. Tatiana’s poetry was published in the July/August issue, but did you know you can also purchase it as an eBook? You can find it at the online Stone Soup Store. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Pragnya, 12, reviews The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. Find out why she thinks the comedic story about aliens and adventure is worth a read. Check out the update from our twenty-first book club meeting on Saturday. The next book we’re going to read is The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. We hope you can join us for our next meeting on December 5! Have you read the book Wish by Barbara O’Connor? Audrey, 10, writes in her review of the book that she thinks it’s one of the best books she’s ever read. Learn why Audrey’s so fond of the book by checking out her review. We’ve published a review of Holes by Louis Sachar before (you can find it here). But that doesn’t mean we can’t publish another reviewer’s opinion! This time, Cici, 12, advocates for the book enthusiastically. In her words, “Read Holes! You won’t be disappointed! It sounds like I am advertising, but it’s actually true!” There are many middlegrade books about bullying, but it’s not so common for them to have them written from the perspective of a bully, as is the case for The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. In her review of the book, Prisha, 8, notes this approach and discusses the message she thinks the book imparts to the reader. November Flash Contest–deadline tomorrow! Check out the flash contest prompt for this week below: Write a short story that begins with “Once upon a time, in a land far away . . .” and ends with “. . . and they all lived happily ever after.” You can submit to the contest here until noon Pacific Time on Sunday, November 8. We can’t wait to read your entries! Watch this space next week for the winners. Galen Halasz, 13Saranac Lake, NY From Stone Soup November 2020 We the People By Galen Halasz, 13 (Saranac Lake, NY) People want to say a lot of things. People think they know a lot of things. People want always to be in the right. People think they’re always on the good side of every fight. People say be open to new ideas. People mean their ideas. People are stupid. I am stupid. We are stupid Read
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
The Hundred Dresses, Reviewed by Prisha, 8
I recently read the idiom, “Do not judge a book by it’s cover,” and I guess that’s exactly true for the book I am reviewing. The name of the book is The Hundred Dresses and it is written by Eleanor Estes, and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. The cover also has a silver round medal, meaning that it is a Newbery honor book. So, when I saw this book in the bookstore, I was immediately drawn to it. The cover was pretty and colorful and it had beautiful and colorful illustrations inside. I quickly skimmed through the back of the book and soon bought it. I started reading the book. In the car itself. At first, I thought the book was going to be about a hundred dresses, but the real story had a very different meaning. Even though it is about a hundred dresses but, in a very different way, something that a reader wouldn’t have imagined. By reading the note from the author’s daughter in the first four pages, you can figure out that the book is about bullying. I was surprised to read that the author is one of the mean girls in the story and she wrote this book because she felt awful about how she helped a bully. She couldn’t ask for forgiveness at that time so this was her way of doing that. So basically what makes this book even more interesting is that it is written from the view of the person who is the bully’s friend and kind of bully herself. The story is about three main characters, Wanda, Peggy, and Maddie. Wanda Petronski is a Polish girl who is new to the school and in the same grade as Peggy and Maddie. She wears the same faded blue dress to school every day–yet she says she has a hundred pretty dresses, all lined up in her closet. The other girls, Peggy and Maddie, make fun of her uncommon last name and her dress and what she says about her hundred dresses. But when Wanda leaves the city and moves to another city, Maddie, one of the bullies, starts feeling bad for the way she didn’t stand up for Wanda when she was being bullied by her closest friend, Peggy, and the other girls. What I loved about this story is how at the end the mean girls realized their mistake. The story is also about friendship and realizing mistakes and forgiving and teaches you to be kind, and not bully other people, even if they have a funny name or something. And if you see a person being bullied, stand up for them. A way to remember this is, “Silence is violence,” which means you are also committing crime if you do not stand up against the bullies. Though The Hundred Dresses was written a long time ago, the message it gives, can be used today, since being kind is a message that will always be important and needed in the world. I highly recommend The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes to everyone. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Holes, Reviewed by Cici, 12
Stanley Yelnats was innocent. He never stole the shoes of the basketball player, but too bad, life isn’t fair. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boy’s detention center–Camp Green Lake. It was odd that Camp Green Lake isn’t actually a lake. Well, it used to be a lake, but it’s not anymore. Right now, it’s like a desert. All of the water from the past has dried out, but the name is still Camp Green Lake. It is where boys are punished by being forced to dig holes that are exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. Some people said that if you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy. But that is not what the Warden at Camp Green Lake wanted. She wanted something that had sunk down into the water many years ago, and it was still there. Making the boys dig holes will help her to find what she wants. All of the boys did something bad, except for Stanley. He didn’t deserve to be digging holes all day with the other boys, but for the Warden, he was a big help. Without him, the Warden would never find the object that was buried under layers and layers of sand. What do you think that object was? If you want to know, you have to read the book, of course! Oh! I almost forgot to introduce the author to you! The author of Holes is Louis Sachar. I don’t know about you, but I love his books! They are amazing! And also, Holes won the National Book Award, as well as many others. You may recognize his name as the writer of the Wayside School Stories and also There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom. Read Holes! You won’t be disappointed! It sounds like I am advertising, but it’s actually true! I can also introduce you to many more books that are good as well. Read my book reviews if you want to read more new books! Holes by Louis Sachar. Yearling Books, 2000. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Check out a past review that we’ve published of Holes. Have you read it too? Feel free to submit your own review!
