We’re pleased to announce that Stone Soup contributor Sabrina Guo has won a number of medals from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards—and two for work that has (or will) appear in the magazine. Congratulations, Sabrina! Here are the awards Sabrina won: Gold Medal, Civic Expression Award for Poetry (“Sacrifice”) Gold Medal for Poetry (a collection of three poems, one of which is forthcoming in Stone Soup) Gold Medal for Journalism (“Amplifying Voices with Another Kind of Girl Collective” – blog post on Stone Soup!) Well done, Sabrina: all of us at Stone Soup are so pleased that you have won this recognition for your writing, and very proud of your achievements. Read more about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards here: https://www.artandwriting.org/
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
BRAT and the Kids of Warriors, Reviewed by Abhi, 11
I picked up BRAT And The Kids Of Warriors, hoping it would be a thrilling military adventure. However, after reading it, I was a bit disappointed. The story is set after World War II, and three BRAT kids named Jack, Rabbit and Queenie McMasters are heading to the Cooke Barracks (a place where military families live that is located in West Germany) to reunite with their father. They take a ship called the USS Upshur in Part I and when they finally reach Cooke Barracks in Part II, they meet some friends and go on little adventures leading to one grand quest. As we read the novel, we find that the characters don’t really have a big challenge or problem they are trying to solve until one day when they find out their father is going with the 4th Armored Division (a military unit within the US Army) to do some military exercises. The McMasters children feel something isn’t quite right. They learn from their nanny Ingrid that the Communists are now the “new” enemy and are planning to take over West Germany, and that East Germany has no freedom and is controlled by the Russians. When they head to school one day, their teacher says they’re weaker than Russian kids because supposedly, those kids were able to cross the Iron Curtain (barbed wire fence that separates East and West Germany) and climb the mountain named Hohenstaufen located in Goppingen. So from then on, the BRAT team’s #1 mission is to prove they are better than the Russian kids by finding a way to get to the mountain. This challenge is not presented to the reader until Chapter 15, which is halfway through the book. This mission seemed exciting and promising to me at first. Sadly, though, this book, due to its slow pace, one-dimensional characters, and lack of intense action and surprises, never delivers on its core promise. The characters are never presented in conflict with each other (they all get along for the most part and they all like to have adventures); more importantly, they never experience any serious doubt or any setbacks in their quest. It would’ve been so cool if they got caught when spying, or they go on a zipline running from bad guys. But instead, the only tasks or mini-adventures they have require them to gather intel and spy on someone, or just deal with the antagonist in the book, a school bully named Kerrigan. I will say that Kerrigan is a great antagonist, and the scenes involving him are exciting and suspenseful. He creates a problem in the book for Jack, and Jack has to muster up all the courage he has to defeat him. Sadly though, every pro comes with a con, and Kerrigan, while an interesting character, only appears in a few chapters of the book. Now, I know I’ve been a bit negative about this book, so let me now turn to the promising elements in this novel. The middle of the book, which starts at roughly Chapter 15, and goes all the way to Chapter 25, is really amazing. The book really shines in these pages, and the author does a brilliant job describing the characters and story. This really surprised me because in Part I, the author never really described anything creatively or focused on any character development. The transition from Part I to Part II is remarkable and I’m glad the author Michael Joseph Lyons did it. Overall, I didn’t really enjoy BRAT and The Kids Of Warriors, but I’m glad I kept reading and did not abandon the story. The middle of Part II is totally worth your time. The ending was predictable for me, but may not be for others. Which is why when the next book in the BRAT series comes out, I’m going to buy it just to see what happens next. BRAT and the Kids of Warriors by Michael Joseph Lyons. Bravur Media, 2017. 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: March 16, 2019
It was the most magnificent thing I have ever felt. My soul just soared. Illustrator Devon Cole, 12, for “Red Comet” by Philip Grayeski, 11. Published March/April 2004. A note from Sarah Ainsworth Sarah here writing the newsletter this week. Last month I went to see a stand-up comedy show, which has got me thinking about the art of comedic writing. Of course, performing on stage is quite different from writing a comedic story meant to be read, but for now I want to focus on the written word. What makes a story humorous? Does a story have to revolve around a single joke, or should it consist of many amusing moments? One of my favorite comedic writers is Jack Handey, who wrote for the television show Saturday Night Live and frequently contributes to The New Yorker’s humor section. Often his writing is composed of very short lines (“Deep Thoughts,” as he calls them) that are so utterly ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh. Here’s one that I like: “Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.” Or another: “The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.” And one more: “Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it’s made up of two separate words—‘mank’ and ‘ind.’ What do these words mean? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind.” Handey’s approach is to turn an idea or phrase on its head and surprise the reader. His lines completely misinterpret an expression or idiom that the reader is likely familiar with. He is able to surprise the reader in just a few sentences, which may seem easy in such a short length, but those who participated in our short short fiction contest last year know that it is often more difficult than it sounds. Can you incorporate Handey’s method in some of your own writing? How can you take a seemingly straightforward premise and turn it into something unexpected? What kind of twist in a story might make you or your reader laugh? If you come up with something you like, please submit it! All best, Calling all critics! We are planning to make our July/August issue a review issue! We’re especially in need of movie and TV show reviews, particularly well-known children’s movies like Mary Poppins, The Lion King, The Princess Bride, and Frozen—as well as film and TV adaptations of classic literary works, such as A Wrinkle in Time, Matilda, The Borrowers, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and The Jungle Book. If you would like to send us a book review, we are most excited to read about classics rather than newer titles, and are also seeking reviews of classic poems. We simply recommend that you check our site for any existing reviews before deciding on a piece, to avoid duplication. To be considered for publication in the issue (and not on the blog), reviews—which should range from 400 to 700 words—must be received via the “Review” section of our Submittable site no later than April 20. Please email editor@stonesoup.com with any questions. Partnership news We’ve partnered with Adroit Journal, a literary magazine for teens. The applications for their Summer Mentorship program have just opened. This program pairs young writers in grades 9 through 12 with an experienced writer who helps them learn more about the creative process. We know this is for an audience older than ours, but if you know any teenagers who are aspiring writers, encourage them to apply! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com. On Monday, we published a heartfelt piece by contributor Sabrina Guo about her initial hesitations about writing and how she pushed through them to discover the power of words: “Although I had a complicated relationship with books, I did love writing song lyrics. After school, I would transform my tangled thoughts into strings of words, which I wrote down in a tiny notebook about the size of my hand. Little did I know that these song lyrics were actually poems; later I would take a risk and reshape my lyrics into a more literary form. And that was how I took my first step into writing.” Read the rest here. Wednesday, we featured a piece about the importance of animation from blogger Dylan: “Animation, while often thought of as a more or less modern medium, has been being used in different forms since 1906! Throughout the last century, we have used it to entertain, as propaganda, and to tell stories that invoke emotion.” Do you like animation? Check it out and leave a comment! Plus, read the other animation-related posts by Dylan on the blog. From Stone Soup, March/April 2004 Red Comet By Philip Grayeski, 11 Illustrated by Devon Cole, 12 The soaring red sparkler flew over my head with clouds chasing behind. I gazed up and pondered what it would be like sitting in the Red Comet, wind rushing at your face, an old greasy leather cap on, with goggles bigger than your eyes, and you’re just looking ahead feeling so free. My granddad landed the plane as smoothly as a feather falling. When he was gliding down, the engine purred like a cat. He hopped out of the plane he received as a gift from the Air Force, the Red Comet. No one ever was allowed to ride in it because he wanted it to be so clean because he believed that it’s important to take care of things close to you. The Air Force gave it to him because he was the best pilot in the world. At least that’s what he said. He did many tricks that would make your stomach fall like you were on a roller coaster. My granddad and I are more like friends than family. He always says I’m his favorite grandson because I’m his only. We always watch TV together.
