“Teary Eyed Giraffe”, painting by Aevahaadya Arun, 6, Ontario, Canada. Published in Stone Soup, January 2018. A note from William Rubel Our best Thanksgiving greetings from all of us at Stone Soup. Whether or not you are American or Canadian (Canadian Thanksgiving was last month), the end of the year is a good time to remember others who may not be in as happy a situation as you are. Where I live, in Santa Cruz, California, smoke from the massive Camp Fire that destroyed a town of 27,000 and has killed many people has reminded all of us here how lucky we are. The Stone Soup spirit is that when each of us gives a little, something great can be accomplished. I encourage you all to give something, even $1.00, to help someone who is in need right now. I just gave money to the UNHCR, the United Nations agency that helps refugees, and to the American Red Cross to help people caught up in the Camp Fire. I don’t think you will ever regret giving to help others. When we were at the California Library Association Conference two weeks ago we were surprised by how many librarians were interested in Stone Soup as a place where their patrons could not only read great work, but also get published. That got us thinking. That got us thinking about Stone Soupas a bridge between being a consumer of literature–a reader–and being a writer. All writers are readers, but all readers are not writers. I love to write. I feel most alive when I am writing. In that sense, for me, writing is its own reward. That said, I have many things I want to say that I want to share with others. While I don’t “write for publication” in the sense that I the only reason I write is to get published, having my work read by others is at the center of all of my writing. I tend to think of everything I write as a letter to a friend. In fact, the first book I wrote, The Magic of Fire, was started as a letter to a friend. But, when the letter got to about sixty pages I realized that the letter form wasn’t going to work–five years later that letter, by then a large book, was published. I decided I would be writer after visiting a friend of mine who was already a writer. He showed me a fan letter that had recently arrived. I was blown away! The fan letter impressed me because I saw that my friend’s writing had touched this person’s heart. And I thought, there and then, nothing could be better than enriching the lives of total strangers. Writing is where you, the writer, find your inner self. I think that ideas are best developed through writing. When you put words on paper you are forced to confront deep truths–do these words mean what I want to say? What is it, exactly, that I do want to say? In my experience as a writer, the act of writing itself is where I discover my voice. The trick is that to actually be a writer you have to write! We all have busy schedules and most of us are also distracted by our digital recreations. I am struggling with this in my own house with my own daughter. When she writes she is fully engaged with the writing, but more often than not, the lure of another episode of something on Netflix has her transfixed. We are working towards one or more video game- and movie-free days simply because it is so hard to stop playing or watching once one has started. If you are also struggling with how to balance digital entertainment in your life, or have advice for me and my 7th grader daughter, let me know by replying to this Newsletter. I’ll put together some of your replies to share with you. Replies from parents are welcome! A very brief reference to holiday shopping… Holiday shopping craziness is upon us! The one way you can best help Stone Soup thrive is to subscribe to the magazine via the Stone Soup website, look for gifts in our online store, Stonesoupstore.com, and encourage your friends to do the same–you never know, you or they might get their subscription for free in our 45th birthday celebration! (see below). Thank you. This week’s art and story In this week’s newsletter we wanted to highlight a particularly beautiful painting made by one of our younger contributors that we published this year: Aevahaadya Arun’s “Teary Eyed Giraffe”. What an achievement! Do take a closer look, and read some of the comments that tell you more about her work at our website. Also, don’t miss out on reading (or re-reading) Natalie Warnke’s story below, also published in January. It’s always exciting when a genre is turned on its head, and Natalie does just that with her clever twist on a fairytale princess. Until next week, The past week on our blog It’s been a great week on our blog – three new posts from young bloggers were published. In ‘Big Family: A Memoir’, Daniel Wei tells us about his experience as an Asian-American boy visiting China for the second time in his life. Maya V talks about ‘Sad Books’, and her difficulties with reading them. I’m sure lots of us share her feelings! Have a read and leave her a comment to keep the conversation going. And last but not least, Keshav Ravi muses on the joys of a fort: for play, for contemplation, as an escape, and as a place to read. Help us reach 1,000 print subscribers by the end of the year! Stone Soup was 45 years old this year. We want to celebrate that birthday and celebrate being back in print with an offer to our loyal readers. Can you help us meet our target of 1,000 new print subscribers by the end of the year? We are offering free subscriptions and extra prizes at various
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Forts of Play
Forts, to me, are a great place to hide away! I like to build forts because they are my little place where nobody can bother me. Forts make me feel independent; and away from all noise. I’ve been building forts all my childhood, and I still do. I build my forts almost always in corners because every corner in my house has a chair, a soft thing or a window for light. One kind of fort I make is the bedsheet-supported-by-pillow fort. Other times, I find spaces and just build on them. Like the time I found a bush with an entrance and a great climbing spot. I added a trapdoor (using a branch that can bend and won’t crack with weight on it), and a place to store plants (example, reeds). This spot is one of my favorites to still visit, behind a tree in the frontyard of my home. Inside the home, at my pillows-and-sheets-fort, I often make a little burrow with tunnels, and passages to small blanket-pillow rooms. I have turned even my bottom bunkbed into a fort of many rooms– a mansion palace! Once built, I love to read in my fort. Some forts I’ve built have even had enough space to run around! I sometimes have a nice nap in my fort. All I can say is I’m really happy in a fort. I wish I could be there all day.
Sad Books
Do you like sad books? I can’t stand them. Time after time I try a book and then stop it in the middle because it makes me miserable. It really affects me. I know that bad things happen in real life. People write about them because they actually happen, but how anyone can get through reading about it is beyond me. Now, I am finally starting to realize how, through my friends. My friend often recommends books to me. I love discussing books and look forward to talking about them with her. One time, my friend and I were talking and then she said “I just read a great book. You should read it.” I got the book from the library, excited to try it. I sat down, opened the book, read the first page, and loved it. I read it before bed, when I woke up in the morning and whenever else I had time. Until, somewhere in the middle, there is a car accident. The main character is hurt and very upset. And that’s when I felt despair and stopped the book. I don’t like depressing books. I try to finish them because I want to discuss them with my friend but I can’t. They make me really dejected, so at some point I just stop. When my friend asked me if I finished the book she recommended, I said “The book was really sad, so I stopped it in the middle.” She looked at me and said “Sad?” “It wasn’t that sad. There was only one part that was. Did you get to the sad part?” “What was the sad part?” I asked, thinking that I had probably judged the book too quickly. The part where I stopped was probably the sad part and the book would stop talking about the car accident soon after. “The part where her friend’s brother falls out the window and dies.” my friend says. I was so glad I stopped the book! It’s not like I complain about any book. I love to read. I have read many classics even though most have some boring parts. I am even willing to give sad books a real chance, and I do. I have finished Bridge To Terabithia, a book about a boy whose best friend dies, Walk Two Moons, a book about a girl whose mother left, The Boy On The Wooden Box, a memoir written by a holocaust survivor, and many other depressing books. I even liked some of them. But, when the main character is continuously morose, the book keeps referring to whatever tragic thing that happened, and the book only talks about the dismal thing, after giving it many chances, I decide that it’s not worth it to anguish myself over a book. Especially one that I was only supposed to read for enjoyment. But it seems that none of my friends are bothered by these books. Am I the only one? What do you think? Do sad books disturb you?
