Water Droplets by Anya Geist, 13 (Worcester, MA)Cover art from the Stone Soup November 2019 A note from Jane Levi Those of you with a print subscription to Stone Soup will by now have received your copy of the November issue with its wraparound cover art, Water Droplets, by Anya Geist, and many more of you will have seen the cover and the complete work of art online. If you read editor Emma’s letter at the beginning of the magazine, you will know that a lot of the work in this month’s issue is about ideas of home. As you probably know, I am from the UK, so this gray, wet-looking image sums up a big part of my expectations of November “at home.” I know that lots of our readers live in similar climates, so you will know what I mean . . . Actually, I am in the United States just now—and Santa Cruz, California, is anything but wet at the moment—but I am pretty confident that when I get back to London next weekend it won’t be long before I will be looking out my window and seeing a live version of Anya’s photograph! One of the things I love about this piece of work is the way it is a mixture of the very specific—a clear and precise record of drops of water on (I assume) glass or tile—and the abstract. We can’t see the edges of the surface the water droplets are on, so even with the clarity of the image a lot is left to our imaginations to work out. Without knowing the title, the photograph could be many things: a close-up of bubbles in a tank, or even a piece of concrete. Although it is plain-looking and ostensibly simple, it is very beautiful, and it is thought-provoking. I find it calming and meditative to look at, in the way just sitting and staring out of the window in your favorite spot at home can be when you need to pause and think through what you are going to write next, or when you need to digest a problem. Thank you, Anya, for a terrific cover! Thinking about returning to the UK, I also appreciate Analise Braddock’s poem “Days” in the November issue, where “The gray is space or a planet,” and in the end “It is time to return.” Maybe this weekend you can take some time to sit and stare and think about home, think about places you would like to return to, and write, draw, or photograph something that encapsulates those thoughts and ideas. As always, send it to us if you are happy with it. Until next time, Current Contest: Personal Narrative The way we approach fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as both readers and writers, is drastically different. For this reason, we’re happy to announce that Stone Soup is partnering with Society of Young Inklings in our very first nonfiction contest and that, in 2020, we will begin to publish all nonfiction under its very own label in the magazine. What makes this contest extra special is our partnership with Society of Young Inklings (SYI): we are very excited to share that their team of professional writers has designed a mentorship experience for both the youth and the educators who take part in this contest. Check out the details on our website here, including links to SYI’s video series to help in writing a personal narrative. Contest deadline is December 15th! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Two book reviews posted on the blog this week! Daniel, 10, reviews the children’s classic A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle, with a special focus on the fictional world of Camazotz. Would you want to live in a place with peace and order, but without any freedom? Leave a comment on his post! Did you watch the movie Hidden Figures? Vivaan, 10, reviews the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which the movie was based on. Read Vivaan’s thoughts about the “very inspiring” book, in his words. Our Fall Fundraiser, 2019: The Refugee Project We are raising funds to support the production and publication of creative work by children in refugee camps around the world. We have already almost reached our target of $5,000 to support workshops run by and for kids in camps, a special issue of Stone Soup, and associated projects—and we want to keep going! You have already helped us fund workshops in the Za’atari camp and put us in touch with other great organizations we can work with to expand our efforts. Please help us raise the money to continue this work. You can read more about this initiative on our website and help us by sharing the link with others. Thank you. From Stone Soup, November 2019 Days By Analise Braddock, 8 (Katonah, NY) Illustrated by Anya Geist, 12 (Worcester, MA) The nights are long The days are short A breeze is blown A day is a day. It can’t be reliven Make today today Tomorrow is tomorrow The gray is space or a planet. A cold breeze sweeps by It is time to return Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Hidden Figures, Reviewed by Vivaan, 10
The story of Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly is a true story at the time of the World War II about four African American women (Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden) who were mathematical geniuses and lived in America when most jobs were dominated by white men. But these four, unfairly hidden in history, contributed to the USA behind the scenes during the war and in their space race. The book and their characters are very inspiring. What the four women had accomplished was outstanding but it was even more remarkable because they lived in the south of USA at a time where racial and gender discrimination was rampant. The black population was segregated from the whites – they were not allowed to go to the same toilets, the same restaurants or live in the same neighbourhoods. Also, at that time a woman working was rare, the only thing that the women could apply for was teaching at a school of their race (black/white) or they would stay home and do housework. It beggars belief that opportunity only knocked on their door during the World War II, a time of total disaster for the rest of the country. Men were leaving to fight and for the first time there were job vacancies, for the first time women were needed. The WWII opened up an abundance of pathways for women and blacks and these four exceptional ladies found themselves at the threshold of greatness. The NACA ( National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics – former NASA) started to hire white women to come and work as ‘computers’ – mathematicians at their laboratory. But they couldn’t fulfil their needs with only white women, so soon they started hiring black women for math and some black men as engineers. Other black men started enlisting themselves in the army. The key takeaway from this book is that instead of discriminating on the basis of race or sex we should give prime significance to the inner talent of the individual. In today’s world, although a different era, and despite it being legally and constitutionally abolished, unfortunately discrimination still exists in people’s hearts. People still struggle for jobs or promotions just because of their race or gender. There are many examples of this gross injustice – many women are still sometimes not paid as much as men, the prize money in various sports tournaments for men is higher than for women, in some countries women are not even allowed to work or go out without a male member accompanying her! Though this book predominantly mentions racial and sexual discrimination, there is a lot of intolerance on the basis of what you do for a living, your religion, your nationality. The world’s history is replete with examples of people, organisations and countries rising above discrimination and doing wonders and a recent example of this is the 2018 Football World Cup which France clinched. They gave priority to pure talent rather than being bogged down by trivial issues like race, nationality or religion. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. HarperCollins, 2016. 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!
A Wrinkle in Time, Reviewed by Daniel Zhu, 10
Imagine living in total peace, but being mind-controlled every minute of your life. The book A Wrinkle in Time describes such life in Camazotz; being controlled by IT, which is a brain that tries to drag you in, absorb your life force, and control you. Honestly, I don’t think that is a fair trade for peace and order. I think that, while there might be advantages to Camazotz, it is still, overall, a bad place to live in. First of all, what are the advantages of Camazotz? You get peace and order. There are no conflicts, for a simple reason: no one has any opinions, because they are all controlled by one brain. Opinion is the root of war. For example, the trade war started because Trump thought that other countries were making too much money importing to America, but China thinks the tariffs are unjust. The keyword here is “think.” Conflicts start because two sides, in this case, America and China, have different opinions, thoughts, on a certain subject, which in this case, is tariffs. However, in Camazotz, everyone is controlled by one thing, thus everyone has the same thoughts and opinions. Nevertheless, there are still many disadvantages. While you may be tempted by the good things Camazotz has to offer, keep in mind that there are many bad things about it too. First of all, you have no freedom. You are possessed every day, sometimes involuntarily, by IT. In other words, you are brain-dead, a zombie. Also, you can’t experience the fun of life, because, technically speaking, your life is not yours; it’s IT’s. This means that you are basically slaves. Even though IT isn’t doing anything bad with the people on Camazotz right now if IT wanted to wage war, I could just use the people of Camazotz for soldiers. Personally, I think that is one of the most inhumane and wrong things that could ever be done. All in all, three words: Camazotz is bad. I mean, look at how willingly people are willing to rebel for freedom. The American Revolution. The Civil War (of America). The Yellow Scarf Rebellion (in China). Humans strain and strive to be free; it’s in their nature. Yet IT is taking this freedom away and turning humans into playthings, puppets.Is it really ideal to live under a “leader” like this? To have your own body, your own legs, your own feet, your own head…but not your own brain? Even the bad things that happen in the world are human will. We get to control our own life here. But on Camazotz, you have no control over anything, even your own life. What kind of world is that? However, as much as I am firm in my saying that Camazotz is not a good place to live, it is still my own opinion. What about you? After hearing this, would you still like to live on Camazotz? Perhaps, just like Madeleine L’Engle envisioned the bizarre world in A Wrinkle in Time when many stunning scientific breakthroughs that relate to the book were not made yet, you can envision the good in Camazotz. After all, there is a good side and a bad side to everything; the world is a delicate balance between right and wrong. As Angelina Jolie said, “[Everything] has two sides, a good side, and a bad side…We must embrace both.”
