Attention! Calling all young readers! Are you an adventurous middle grade reader (ages 8 to 11) who would love to travel throughout the middle ages? Do you find medieval battles thrilling? Do you want to fight for justice? If so Alexis Fajardo’s graphic novel Kid Beowulf: The Rise of El Cid might be perfect for you. The Rise of El Cid is the third comic book in the Kid Beowulf trilogy. It begins with a captivating prologue about the well accomplished warrior, Rodrigo, who became nicknamed “El Cid,” because he won so many battles. The prologue is beautifully hand inked, watercolored, and written in the format of a poem, but from the start of chapter one, the graphic novel is digitally colored, and written in prose. The Rise of El Cid takes place in many different parts of Spain, as it shows different characters’ journeys around the country. Each of the sub-plots has different characters who display different temperaments and goals (some good, others evil). All of the characters are in some sort of trouble: some are lost, others are in danger of being murdered. Although the graphic novel includes lots of battle scenes, it has some humorous ones, too. For instance, one of the Ibn Al-Fajar has a pet lion who provides comic relief, by giving people such a shock that they jump into each other’s arms. One of these sub-plots focuses on Beowulf, an adventurous boy who travels with two loyal companions, his brother, Grendel, and friend, Hama (a piglet, whom I love dearly.) After a battle between two (unknown) groups of people, Beowulf gets into a fight with a warrior. They begin to tumble down a mountain and off a cliff. Grendel and Hama try to come to Beowulf’s rescue, but in the commotion they, too, fall off the cliff. The three travelers are lost, and very far away from where they started. While attempting to navigate their way home, Beowulf, Grendel, and Hama and run into serious trouble. Will they be able to safely return to the High Pyrenees? Of the many characters in The Rise of El Cid, I found that Beowulf and I have lots in common. He wants the best for himself and his peers, but at times can be bossy and stubborn. For instance, Beowulf refuses to take Grendel’s advice. This provokes a big argument that could possibly be deadly. Will Beowulf and Grendel ever forgive each other? Will Beowulf or Grendel murder each other due to their strong rage? When Beowulf behaves this way, he reminds me of myself. Occasionally, when my parents and friends try to give me advice, I am too stubborn to take it, but later on realize I should have listened to them, because the situation I am in is terrible, due to the fact that I was unwilling to compromise, and too caught up in believing I was right. Another important character is Rodrigo Diaz, a young man from Spain who finds himself waist high in trouble when he strongly defends what he believes is ethical. When Count Gormaz (a well established warrior) is going to murder his unarmed, and knocked-out, prisoners of war, Rodrigo stands up to him by shouting, “Count Gormaz! Sir! You’ve got to stop! These men are unarmed! They’re no threat to us!” Count Gormaz responds by ordering Rodrigo to leave the field. Rodrigo disobeys, and their quarrel quickly escalates to Count Gormaz saying, “I’ll kill you instead!” Rodrigo’s desire to stick up for justice, reminds me of activists today who had the courage to speak out, in opposition of the government, or people in power. For instance, Rodrigo, who lived in the middle ages, reminds me of a male version of Malala. I find Malala and Rodrigo very similar, because both of them had the courage to voice their opinion, even if it meant taking a life-threatening risk. The many characters and scenes in Kid Beowulf: The Rise of El Cid, remind me of current day events and people, for many reasons, some silly, others serious. If you want to know who lives, who dies, who loses friends, and who returns home, read The Rise of El Cid. Kid Beowulf: The Rise of El Cid by Alexis E. Fajardo. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2018. 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: March 23, 2019
“Wheat in Heaven” Photograph (Nikon D3400) by Delaney Slote, 12. Published in Stone Soup, October 2018. A note from William Rubel The Podcast Contest is accepting submissions until midnight, Pacific Time, April 15. That is only three weeks away! You will find details in the Partnership and Contest News section below, as well as on our website. Please look down to the “Highlights from the past week online” section for some news about Stone Soup contributor and blogger Sabrina Guo. William’s weekend project: photography I’d like you to look at Delaney Slote’s photograph, featured in our newsletter this week, from a technical point of view. There are only two objects depicted: the wheat and the sky. The wheat is much closer to us than the sky. This is a photograph that is exploring visual planes and space—the distance between the two planes. In this photograph there is foreground and background, but no middle ground. It thus shares a strong structural similarity with the photograph of umbrellas we used for the cover of the February issue. I wrote about that image in the February 9 newsletter. Delaney also explores blurring. The distant clouds are blurry. This helps focus our attention on the wheat in the foreground. But the wheat itself is also on multiple planes. The wheat has depth. Notice that some of the wheat is sharp and some blurry. Delaney’s camera offers fine control over what is called the focal plane—the precise distance from the camera where the image is sharpest. The focal plane is flat, like a piece of paper or a piece of window glass. You might even imagine your photograph as being composed of two painted parallel pieces of glass set far apart from each other. Your camera may or may not let you play with blurriness. If it does, then experiment with the feature. In the case of “Wheat in Heaven,” the contrast between the wheat that is sharply focused and the wheat that is a little blurry provides a feeling of depth and movement. Walk around your house or go outside looking for objects that you can imagine as being arranged on two parallel panes of glass but set very far apart from each other. You can also look for situations in which the planes are not parallel, where the imaginary panes of glass meet each other at an angle. As always, if you are super pleased with what you have done, then upload your submission to our website for editor Emma Wood to review. Until next time, P.S. If you happen to see the current issue of Mother Earth News in a magazine stand, then turn to page 26. You will find an article I wrote on vegetable gardening. You can also read the article online at the Mother Earth News website. Partnership and contest news Don’t forget about our current contest, in partnership with the By Kids, for Kids Story Time podcast, to write a short story about climate change or another environmental theme. Your work could become a dramatized reading broadcast on the podcast and be published in an issue of Stone Soup! All the details about entries and prizes are on our website contest pages. We’ve partnered with The Adroit Journal, a literary magazine for teens. Now in its seventh year, The Adroit Journal’s Summer Mentorship Program is an entirely free and online program that pairs experienced writers with high school and secondary students (students currently in grades 9–12) interested in learning more about the creative writing processes of drafting, redrafting, and editing. The 2019 program will cater to the literary genres of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and is open for student applications March 15 through April 15. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Abhi Sukhdial reviews the book BRAT and the Kids of Warriors by Michael Joseph Lyons. Find out what he thinks are the strengths and weaknesses of the adventure novel. Frequent contributor Sabrina Guo recently won a Scholastic Art & Writing Award for her Stone Soup blog post about the organization Another Kind of Girl Collective (in addition to a few other awards!). Congratulations to Sabrina! Read more here. From Stone Soup November 2018 The Legend of the Leaves By Marcus R. Bosley, 10 Long, long ago, in the days when dinosaurs roamed, and the Earth was filled with lush, green grass, the first people were born. The gods shaped them from the mud of the Earth, dropping them on the soft ground and giving them shelter from harsh weather. In the time before humans, the gods were lonely. They would eat and sleep and occasionally play bingo at the top of a volcano. But they never experienced joy or happiness like we do today. So they created humans. The gods would make houses and villages for the people to live in. They would give food to the people when they were in need. The gods were so generous they gave the people the most valuable resource of all. Leaves. Now, when you first think about it, doesn’t it sound a little silly? But, back then, they didn’t have the same animals as we do today. They wouldn’t be able to make clothes or blankets without the soft animal skins we have now. The gods saw the humans in distress. They were cold at night and made clothes out of tough alligator hides. So they took action. The gods thought up something that would solve the problem. Something common, that could be found everywhere. And so they created leaves. Lots and lots of leaves. The people used the leaves right away. They made soft clothing to wear that was a million times better than the scaly lizard skin. They stuffed pillows with them. They even used sticky tree sap to glue them together and make roofs. The gods gave them everything. But, the problem was, the humans were still not satisfied. They demanded more from the gods. Better food. Nicer homes. More recipes for Italian beef stew. The gods were astounded. “They must be put under control. They
Congratulations to Stone Soup contributor Sabrina Guo, 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Medalist!
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/
