There is magic in everyday life. Sometimes we overlook it or take it for granted, but it is there. There’s magic in friendships, in perfectly timed coincidences, in the learning space between childhood and adulthood. The optimistic, lighthearted novel Finally by Wendy Mass celebrates this fact and highlights the uniqueness of even the most seemingly average people and places. The protagonist, Rory Swenson, is about to turn twelve. She’s been waiting for this day her whole life: when she’s twelve, she’ll finally be able to do a multitude of things that her friends have been doing without her for years. Get a cell phone. Wear makeup. Exchange her glasses for contact lenses. Babysit . . . Rory is used to feeling overlooked, left out. She’s heard people call her “mousy” and “bookish.” She’s quickly forgotten in a crowd; and stemming from this is perhaps the most hurtful thing of all: she feels she doesn’t matter. Rory hopes her big day will change all that. But as each long-cherished wish is granted, Rory is forced to consider the difference between what she needs to do to fit in and what she truly wants. I first discovered Finally at the school book fair in fifth grade. I was captivated before I had finished the first page. I had found a person just like me in the honest, cheerful Rory, and I walked home that day feeling like I had just made a new friend. Two years later, Rory has accompanied me through all the ups and downs of school and summer. Her chatty, entertaining voice brought sunshine to my darkest days, and though Finally is no action thriller, the protagonist’s hilarious mishaps and sensitive heart weave the kind of tale which never grows old. Frank, funny, and full of surprises, Finally is a story that spins many themes together, and consequently appeals to a wide range of readers. For one, it portrays the pressure to grow up before one might be ready, which nearly every middle schooler experiences at some point in their life. It touches, with a fresh take on the classic coming-of-age story, on the search for an identity both unique and “normal.” At the end of the book, quiet Rory realizes that in her own, brown-haired, makeup-free way, she has changed lives. This is the part which I always treasured, because it reminded me that while some people are special in different ways from others, everyone is truly unique. Under a captivating layer of humor, action, and frank reality, Finally broadcasts a powerful message, like pills dissolved in jelly: everyone is different, although it can be hard to realize. The pull to satisfy the mirage that constitutes the idea of “normal” can be strong, but it is possible to fight it. And when you do, the magic inside you will be unleashed. Finally by Wendy Mass. Scholastic, 2011. 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!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Saturday Newsletter: May 11, 2019
Illustration by Arthur Manuelito, 12, for “How I Got Over My Dream” by Diane Dubose, 11. Published in Stone Soup, March/April 1989. A note from Sarah Ainsworth This week, a serious subject. At the Museum of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, I was fortunate enough to see a powerful exhibit called There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools. This is a chapter of North American history that doesn’t get talked about very often. In the Indian residential schools in both the United States and Canada, indigenous children who were taken from their families were forcibly assimilated to Eurocentric traditions. The goal of the schools was to take away the children’s indigenous culture and traditions. These children were not allowed to speak in their native languages or practice their traditional religions. The results of these “schools” were devastating and continue to affect indigenous communities today. This exhibit showcases the artwork that indigenous children created during their time in these institutions. It is thought-provoking and heartbreaking. The work is a reminder of the importance of creative expression as an outlet for children. Here are just a few of the pieces that stood out to me: You can see more of the works in the show, and find out more about them and the lives of the artists, at the Legacy Art Gallery in Victoria website. I am certainly no expert on this subject, but I am trying to learn more about it. I encourage you to also seek out information if you are interested. Here is a list of books on the subject of residential schools. Please, if you read one and have any thoughts, consider submitting a review to Stone Soup. Until next time, Raising funds to reach kids in marginalized communities Part of Stone Soup’s mission has always been to try our best to reach children living in marginalized communities and help them use the power of their creativity to share their worlds and experiences with others. This week’s story from the archives is one from a special Navajo issue that Stone Soup published in 1989. The stories, art, and poetry in that issue—and other work published in the late 1980s in regular issues of Stone Soup—were by children living on reservations, some of whom attended boarding schools. Those stories touch on some of the elements mentioned above, such as the children having two names (a secret Navajo one and the English one used in the outside world), and the division between their home and boarding-school lives. When we moved out of our office two years ago, we found a box of that special issue in our storeroom. Still wrapped tightly in the plastic the printer packed them in all those decades ago, they are in great condition! We held on to them, knowing that we should do something more with them than send them for recycling, but not quite sure what that something was. Now, inspired by Sarah’s visit to that exhibition, we know what we want to do with them. We want to sell them to the readers of our newsletter and dedicate all the money we raise to our programs for reaching marginalized kids, wherever they are. This is your chance to get a pristine, vintage copy of Stone Soup and help us dedicate additional funds to our programs reaching out to kids living in challenging circumstances. We have 60 copies available; at $15 per copy, if we sell them all we’ll raise $900. We promise we will devote all the money raised to finding new ways to seek out and support the harder-to-reach Stone Soup readers and contributors of today and tomorrow. You can buy your copies of the Stone Soup March/April 1989 Special Navajo Issue here in our online store. If you would rather make a donation—or if you would like to make a donation in addition to your purchase—you can do that here. Thank you, as always, for your support. We will report back in the newsletter on how much we raise, and what we achieve with the funds. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. Vandana reviews the newly released Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Here’s an excerpt from the review: “Strikingly, not once in the book did the author give away any character’s feelings in a single word, but painstakingly described physical actions: staring at shoes, standing straighter, bouncing on toes. More than once, I had to stop reading and consult my knowledge of human body language—what are people feeling when they avoid someone’s gaze?” Abhi reflects on the feeling of love and shares a poem on the subject: “As we all know, love truly cannot be explained well. While some people find love as a relationship between two or more, others see it differently. I personally find love to be having an awesome time with someone, and just enjoying life.” What do you think love means? From Stone Soup March/April 1989 How I Got Over My Dream By Diane Dubose, age 11, New Mexico Illustrated by Arthur Manuelito, age 12, New Mexico One warm sunny afternoon in November I was sitting at my desk reading a library book about gorillas. I was looking at the gorillas when Kathleen, my cousin-sister, said, “Diane, why are you looking at that picture?” I said, “I’m just looking at it.” Then I said, “That gorilla looks big and scary. I only like orangutans and chimpanzees. They are small and they’re not mean.” It was three-thirty, time to go to the dorm. The students walked down the hallway heading for Dorm Two. That is where I live Monday through Friday because I am a Navajo girl and I live way out on the Navajo Reservation. I live out too far to go to a public school so I go to a boarding school. I started going to boarding school when I was very young and
Love: The Power of Emotions
Illustration by Abhi Love is a hard thing to explain. It’s incredible how much there is in love, that it can mean many different things. No matter where you are, or who you meet, love will always cheer you up. It’s like seeing a rainbow on a cloudy day, you know, when you see many clouds and you think the world looks gloomy when suddenly, a strike of light jumps through the clouds and you gasp so hard. This is a feeling that’s rare to experience, and this blog will talk about my thoughts about this wonderful emotion. As we all know, love truly cannot be explained well. While some people find love as a relationship between two or more, others see it differently. I personally find love to be having an awesome time with someone, and just enjoying life. Love doesn’t always last forever, and sometimes, love can only be for a few minutes or even seconds! How my mind interprets love is that love is easy to go through, but hard to find. What I mean by this is that once you start forming a bond with someone, it is really easy to start a relationship full of love, but finding that specific person you like so much is something that has been hard for me to find for over five years! I think the most common start for love is your parents. Most parents will always protect their children, and take care of them at all costs. This for me is true love. This is something that happens once in a blue moon, and any free time I have at home, I always say in my mind, “Thank you God for this world, thank you for my parents and thanks for the life you have given me.” Some people though, don’t really enjoy love as much as they should. Most people think love is a “girl loves boy” relationship. However, this is not completely true. While love can be a boy and girl having a bond, it can also just be good old memories and fun. I fear people these days are too picky about love, and they just dismiss the whole idea of love and focus on becoming popular instead. But you have to understand, love for me is simply this: Love: When One Is Experiencing Joy And Happiness This is very simple, and that’s how it should stay. Being too narrow about how you define love is that it closes you from experiences that could be awesome. If you continue to always be choosy about what love means, it makes me (and others) feel that you’re closeminded. I am by no means saying you need to come up with a very clear definition for love because love can be many things to many people. All I am saying is there are many ways to show love, and many things to love (people, animals, nature, God etc.) Love is a beautiful thing to behold, and one shouldn’t be too judgmental about it. There is a saying that expresses what I mean here. It is “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” To put it simply, this quote is saying the best love is the kind that makes us happy, wanting more of it, and makes us feel peace inside our hearts. One shouldn’t be ungrateful and mean over what we have. God has given us an amazing life that is beautiful, like the gorgeous ocean and the wonders hidden deep inside it. No one man should judge or define love. Love (just like in the quote) also means peace. A person doesn’t fight to bond with someone, and I’m sure everyone knows that. The reason I am telling you this is because some people like to force someone to love them by arguing with them right in their face. I can relate to this because I have a little brother, and he thinks I am his hero, but he always tries to argue to get my attention. This isn’t how people should find happiness. I have tried it myself with one of my friends in school. I sent her a card, always hung around her, and thought she would want to be my friend. She started to like me, and really bond with me, but inside my heart, I felt guilty and ashamed of myself because I thought I had “forced” her to like me. As you already see from reading this blog, love is many things. It’s like exploring the entire Earth! You can’t possibly go through every inch of this planet, but you can still explore it. Love is quite the same. Before we talk more about love, I would like to say this to all the bullies out there. I won’t judge if you’re a bully or not, but I will tell you this. Look inside your heart, and look close and deep. See if you are doing the right thing, and ask this simple question, “Will this make me better? Will I be happy after all I have done?” I won’t criticize you, but please understand that question, and it’s way more important than you think it is. I can go on and on about love, but I don’t think I can explain everything. To put it simply, I wrote this poem: Love is a light shining in the night, love can be wonder and comets at sky. Who needs war when peace can shine free, and who needs bullies when bystanders can go and help thee. I can’t go judge and do whatever I want, but fighting through school is worse than a creepy night. Love can be here, love can be there. Love is something to explore anywhere.
