https://youtu.be/I7sXPz9U7KY My music has a military feel paired with a more “grey” tone in a slower tempo to convey the atmosphere for a piece on remembrance so we do not forget the past. I chose the sounds of the piano, flute and drums. Drum represents the light military beat, piano the base layer and for contrasting or duet with the flute (main voice). The flute can be used to express both happy and sadness. My physical experience of being present at the various different D-day sites while listening to stories told my our guide, in addition to seeing reenactment vehicles that were setting up was more powerful than reading all the books on the topic. We visited the following areas related to D-day: Normandy beach, Juno beach, Utah beach, Omaha beach, Pointe du Hoc and Normandy American cemetery. You can physically feel the courage, fear, will and the enormous disadvantages the Allies soldiers had to overcome to break through at each of the locations. I do not think you can truly understand without going there yourself and hope to share a little through my music paired to my family video
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
George, Reviewed by Calliope, 10
I read one page of the novel George by Alex Gino, and was hooked. One chapter, and I fell in love. When the book was sad, I fought back tears. When it was happy, I pumped my fists in the air and shouted for joy. George is a current story that sets out to tell the truth. The truth of a girl who knows she is a girl, but was born in a boy’s body. This is a story of determination, courage and love. It is a journey of self-discovery and you as the reader are going through it alongside the main character, Melissa. Melissa is a transgender girl in the fourth grade. To the rest of the world she is known as George. Melissa is the name she calls herself in the mirror. However, Melissa keeps this a secret from everyone in her life, including her mother and big brother, Scott, and her best friend, Kelly, because she is afraid that they won’t love and accept her. Therefore, Melissa goes through her days feeling alone. When Melissa’s teacher announces that the class will perform a production of Charlotte’s Web, Melissa really wants to be Charlotte, the spider. While she and Kelly practice Charlotte’s lines together, Melissa loves saying the spider’s lines out loud. She feels that if she gets the part of Charlotte she will not only enjoy the role, but she will finally get to show her school and her family who she truly is. When the day of auditions finally comes, Melissa bravely begins to try out for Charlotte, beginning with the spider’s famous greeting, “Salutations.” Abruptly, Melissa’s teacher stops her and tells her that only the girls are allowed to try out for the spider’s role. Melissa is devastated, until she and her best friend Kelly hatch a plan. All of the characters in this novel are incredible. Melissa is kind, shy and brilliant. Kelly, Melissa’s best friend, is witty, funny and sharp. Mom is kind-hearted and stubborn. Scott, the older brother, is understanding and funny. Rick and Jeff are the big bullies in this story. Although it is sad to see your favorite character being pushed around, in the end, it is rewarding to see them stand up for what she believes. It makes sense that Alex Gino chose E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web as the play in the book, because both Charlotte’s Web and George share the theme of friendship. Melissa and Kelly are the best of friends, just as Charlotte and Wilbur are. When Melissa finally tells Kelly that she is a girl inside, Kelly is confused at first, but she comes to realize that this is who Melissa is and it won’t change their friendship. This gives Melissa the confidence to take a bold risk in front of her everyone she cares about. Both George and Charlotte’s Web are incredible pieces of literature that show us how friendship can inspire acceptance and self-confidence. Alex Gino is a fantastic writer who tells a story similar to their own. I am not surprised that George has won so many medals. If I were going to write a book, it would be like this one, because it is a beautiful story that shows its readers how to live honestly as ourselves. George has inspired me to be more open with gender and my emotions. It has changed my life forever, and it will change yours too! George by Alex Gino. Scholastic, 2015. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!
Saturday Newsletter: December 28, 2019
“What she saw brought her to an immediate standstill and robbed her of every ounce of her breath.” Illustration by Megan Snide, 13 (Dublin, Ohio), published in Stone Soup September/October 2009, illustrating “Building the Pyramids” by Timmi Ruth Kline, 11 (Jones, Oklahoma). A note from William Rubel Our best to you all for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year! Thank you to those of you who have contributed to our 2019 Annual Drive! Your support is appreciated. I am writing this from London on Christmas evening after a very long and lovely dinner at Jane’s brother’s house. We had a feast! Of course! But, at some point during the meal my friend Augustine who is a Samburu Kenyan blacksmith with four wives and 19 children—yes, there are different cultures—texted me that his family were in the midst of slaughtering 73 goats for a massive feast. Think of that! A feast for an extended family that is so large that it takes 73 goats to feed it. Jane and I are leaving London tomorrow for Cairo where on Saturday, when you are reading this newsletter, we will be visiting the pyramids—so Jane suggested we feature “Building the Pyramids,” a story from Stone Soup published in 2016. The story opens with a well-imagined and historically accurate image—that of “the smell of hot bread”—rising to “Lomea’s nostrils.” While the Great Pyramid, built 4,500 years ago, was built of stone, it is also possible to say that it was built with bread as bread (and beer) were the standard wages for pyramid workers. Timmi Ruth did a very good job researching the historical period of her story. But also to her credit, she doesn’t let her historic research dominate the piece. In fact, like the best writers working in the area of historical fiction, her story is engaging and is supported by research, but not dominated by it. I have recently been listening to lectures by the American author Joyce Carol Oates. Her advice for those of you interested in writing historical fiction is to sketch out the the story—and even go a long way toward writing it—before doing the research into the historic period you have set your story in. This Is good advice. Your job as a writer of fiction is tell a story. Joyce Carol Oates says historical accuracy is important because if you get your details wrong—like having characters in Medieval Italy eating pasta with tomato sauce, which would be before there were tomatoes in Europe—it undermines people’s faith in your story. On the other hand, when you are writing your story, it is unlikely to really matter what was served for dinner. So if I understand what Joyce Carol Oates is saying, look up what people ate or what they wore and other details like that after you have written your compelling story. In a sense, in this approach to writing historical fiction the historic research is part of the finishing up and rewriting. Now, every author is different, so this is not an absolute rule. But I think it is advice that keeps you, as an author, focused on your job, which is storytelling, and leaves the writing up of deep historical research to historians. If you enjoy historical fiction, then I suggest reading our Stone Soup Book of Historical Fiction. And of course, as always, if you have a work of historical fiction already written, please submit it to Stone Soup so editor Emma Wood can consider it for the magazine. And if you have something in the works, upload it to our submissions page when you are done. Until next year! There are only a few more days left in 2019. Finish the year by joining our group of donors and supporters! We are proud of all the kids whose work we publish in our magazine, our books, and on our website, and we are proud of the work we do at Stone Soup to publish and promote children’s creative work. When you give to Stone Soup, you become a publisher of writing and art by kids right alongside us. Our first issue was published in 1973, and 46 years later Stone Soup is still here. We remain as excited about children’s creative work now as we were then, and as committed as ever to making sure the voices of those under 14 are heard. Join us to support the kids of today in their creative journey. You can read more about our 2019 fundraising target and key projects on our website’s Donate page, and help us even more by sharing the link with others. Thank you! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Abhi, 11, reviews The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. Read why Abhi says the author wants you to figure the book’s setting out on your own, and why Abhi was disappointed by parts of the book. Looking for something to spend your holiday money on? Maybe the gift you want to give yourself is a Stone Soup subscription or book! Monthly and yearly subscriptions to Stone Soup magazine are available at our website, while all our books are available at our separate online store. There are nine Stone Soup Books of . . . to choose from: over 1,800 pages of short stories and poems by young authors, a treasure trove of reading material. The 2019 Annual (all 458 pages of it!) is also in stock, along with the last few copies of the 2017 and 2018 Annuals. Take advantage of the special ongoing holiday discounts we have on both groups of books: Buy the brand new Stone Soup Book of Science Fiction at full price ($10); get any other anthologies for just $6.50 each. Buy one Stone Soup Annual 2019 at full price ($34.99); get $10 off 2018 and $15 off 2017. These discounts will be automatically applied in our online store while stocks last. You can also buy all our books at Amazon (at full price). If you buy at Amazon, please consider making Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup Inc. your selected Amazon Smile charity. What she saw
