An update from our twelfth and thirteenth Book Club meetings! Over the past two weeks, the Stone Soup Book Club has been reading and discussing the book Amal Unbound, by Aisha Saeed. The novel, which is seemingly inspired by Malala Yousafzai’s story, is about a girl in Pakistan who wants to become a teacher. First, before I launch into the Book Club’s discussions, I must say, on behalf of all of our participants, thank you to Lucy Rados (13), who attends Book Club, and who, in the past two weeks, has done a brilliant job leading some of our conversations! Thank you, Lucy! One of the main themes in Amal Unbound is the concept of happiness and freedom. Over the two weeks in which we read this book, we discussed this, brainstorming what happiness and freedom meant to the characters in the book, and then thinking about what happiness and freedom meant to us, and whether our opinions differed. We talked about the characters and setting in the story, thinking about the complexity of the characters (no one was really drawn in black and white), and how the setting played a major role in the book. We also discussed what the themes in Amal Unbound were (such as Education, Friendship, Family, Perseverance, and Gender Equality) and thought more deeply into the cover art of the book, and all that it symbolizes. One of the unique activities we did while reading this book was to think and write about social justice, and which social justice matters we feel are the most important to us. It was really fascinating to hear what everyone had to say! Finally, we also had a conversation about culture. We learned a little bit about Pakistani culture and thought about how the world around us impacts what we think of other cultures, in general. All together, these past two weeks have been full of really fascinating conversations! Our next book, which we will be discussing on 7/15 and 7/22 is: Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson The Stone Soup Book Club is open to all Stone Soup contributors and subscribers, age 9-13, throughout the summer. We meet every Wednesday at 1pm PST (4pm EST) for one hour via Zoom to discuss our chosen book. Join us!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Static, a poem by Callum Hicks, 12
Callum Hicks, 12New York, NY Static Callum Hicks, 12 The electric blue buzz of the computer screens. The soft hum of the machines keeping us alive. An evil cackle of a monster behind me, casting a shadow on the cold concrete. Snap. My legs break in half like breadsticks. The masks I am wearing. They let me breathe. Living history as if it’s some sort of consolation. The shrill voices. Crackle. The pressure. Ping-ding-ring. The drone. Zoomzoomzoomzoomzoomzoomzoomzoomzoom. The whir of white noise. Zzz. Zzz. Zzz. Author’s note: The poem plays on both definitions of the word “static.” It’s about the sounds of quarantine during Coronavirus and also the fact that I had to stay in one place. I thought quarantine would be quiet and boring but it has been the polar opposite! I wanted to convey the loudness and chaos of my quarantine experience. With all of the FaceTimes and the Zoom calls and the texts and emails, it’s been overwhelming.
Daily Creativity #81 | Flash Contest: Write an Unsettling Poem
Create a poem with an eerie or creepy tone. You can make the poem as nonsensical or as relatable as possible, but retain the sense of being unsettled throughout. This is a Monday prompt, so if you are writing your response in the week it was first published, you can submit it to our Weekly Flash Contest, via Submittable! Editor’s note: For this week’s Daily Creativity prompts, we’ve got a special takeover! Liam Hancock, Stone Soup reader and contributor, has written the five prompts we’ll be posting throughout the week. For today’s, which is the week’s Flash Contest, he will also be co-judge!
