Can you imagine waking up to find your head is stuck on a different body? Noggin, by John Corey Whaley, is a stunning science fiction story about Travis Coates, a boy with cancer, who wakes up to find his head is attached to a different body. When his cancer becomes teminal, the 16-year-old has a decision to make. Stay alive for a few more weeks or have his head chopped off, only to be frozen and reattached to a different body. Now, five years later, Travis is alive again and everything is the same. Well, almost. His head is on a completely different body and he’s still 16. To add to this, Travis realizes that his girlfriend is engaged and his best friend has forgotten he’s even back on this earth. Travis, a new town hero due to his new body, struggles to find his way in high school. Again. Whaley has taken a tough topic, cancer, and given it a comedic twist, shaping the characters into relatable people. Whaley not only tells the saga of a a teen battling with cancer while discovering his new self, but also adds witty and passionate parts that make the book lively and full, like you’re talking to Travis himself. For example; when Travis is talking to Kyle, his best friend, about his how weird his situation is, “You know things are weird when you start appreciating your farts,” he says. This is an example where Whaley has taken a sci-fi topic and added humor, constructing an accessible plot. I am not a huge fan of science fiction, so when I was assigned to read a sci-fi book, I was discouraged. But once I read the blurb on the back, I was hooked. Whaley slips sci-fi elements into the novel, not an overwhelming amount, but enough to still add to the story line. The book is told by Travis, so you can be engrossed in the story and his experience. Overall, this a pleasurable read, poignant and humorous, and I would recommend it to anyone thirteen and up looking for a feel-good novel. Noggin by John Corey Whaley. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014. 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: December 8, 2018
Stone Soup Annual 2018: Detail from “My Chinese Dream” by Li Lingfei, Shanghai, China (published in Stone Soup, March 2018), and “Preface” by Emma Wood. A note from William Rubel The Stone Soup Annual 2018 is 411 pages and weighs 1.75 pounds! It’s in full color and includes every piece of writing, every illustration, from all 11 issues published this year, plus an issue’s worth of the best blog material and book reviews published online in 2018. The story that we have posted in this newsletter today, “Zachary, Sophie,” was first published in the March issue. When you purchase the Annual,you will get this story and hundreds of pages more of fantastic, evocative literature, all by kids. A basic review of the story? Beyond brilliant. But rather than my providing a summary and my own analysis, please read the story below. If you like it, if you also think it’s brilliant, then please order the Annual for Christmas. We still have copies in stock. I’d like to once again talk about recent Stone Soup blog posts. That is because we at Stone Soup are so happy with what is being written. We want you all to read the fabulous writing we are publishing in the blog genre, and we want you to write blogs for us too. The blogs are open to both Stone Soup-aged writers and to adults. So far, more kids have answered our blogging call than grown-ups. So, if you are a teacher, homeschooler, or just someone who has something to say that would be appropriate for Stone Soup readers, please send us a sample post. Go to the submit page and scroll down to the blog category to upload your sample. “Forts of Play,” by Keshav Ravi, takes me right back to my childhood. Like him, I was also a fort child. Sheets, blankets, furniture, and clothespins were the tools of my fort-building trade. Keshav takes me right back (almost 60 years) to my childhood house in Washington, DC. I can see those forts and remember crawling around on the floor in my buildings. Keshav’s blog post is a jewel. It is beautifully written and elegantly conveys the hours of pleasure his forts afford him. My personal thanks to Keshav for reminding me of my childhood. This is Stone Soup at its best: powerful writing by kids. For a simple project today, whether you are a child or adult reader of this newsletter, sit down and write a few paragraphs about something in your childhood, the one you’re experiencing now if you’re child, or the one you recollect if you are not. Write about something that resonates with you in the way that Keshav’s fort resonates with him. Another blog post from the last couple of weeks that also speaks to my own life is the post, “Sad Books,” by Maya V. I am also someone who finds it difficult—even impossible—to read books that are overwhelmingly sad. In Maya’s words: “But, when the main character is continuously morose, the book keeps referring to whatever tragic thing has happened, and the book only talks about this dismal thing, after giving it many chances, I decide it’s not worth it to anguish myself over a book.” Wow! This is exactly how I feel! This is the first time I have seen this feeling expressed in writing, and I have never met anyone who is as disturbed by sad books as I am. There are absolutely books that I cannot read. There are movies I cannot see. There are plays, like Shakespeare’s Othello, that leave me utterly destroyed at the end. Thank you, Maya, for expressing your thoughts about sad books so clearly and articulately. Your words speak directly to at least this reader’s experience with emotionally distressing literature. All of you! Please read our blogs—and leave comments—and become a blogger. The genre is flexible. You can write what you like. Until next week, More winners in our 45th birthday promotion: every 45th subscriber gets a refund! Stone Soup was 45 years old this year. We are celebrating that birthday and celebrating 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 points along the way, all tied into our age. Every 45th subscriber will receive a free subscription (1 announced last week, and 3 more this week!) The 450th and 900th subscribers will receive a free subscription, plus copies of all ten of the Stone Soup books in our collection (8 anthologies and 2 Annuals). And, the 1,000th will receive all of that, plus a free site license for the institution (school or public library) of their choice. It’s easy to subscribe: visit this page. This particular promotion will continue until we meet our target or get to the end of the year, whichever comes first. Please share this with everyone you think would benefit from joining the readership of Stone Soup. And don’t forget, you can get a 10 percent discount on your annual subscription using the code CHEER2018 on our subscription form. This week on the blog This week, we have a new book review by Faith, of Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. Let us know in the comments whether you read this book too, and how you felt about it. Shipping News! For holiday gifts: all print subscriptions and other book and product orders ship within two days of being received. From today, we are no longer shipping US orders using media mail: all orders received for the remainder of the year will be sent by Priority Mail. To be sure of delivery in time for Christmas, please order by December 17, or select one of the FedEx delivery options. Print and digital subscriptions via our website, Stonesoup.com Annuals, anthologies, notebooks, and sketchbooks, via our online store, Stonesoupstore.com Published in Stone Soup, March 2018 Zachary, Sophie By Kate Choi, 11 Illustrated with ‘The Gift of Music’ by Delaney Slote, 10 The first day of seventh grade our
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Reviewed by Faith, 11
S for sister and B for brother. M for mom, and D For dad. F for family, and W for wish. Hollis Woods is a headstrong, smart, and talented girl. She is an orphan, and she is constantly running away from her foster homes. This realistic-fiction story goes back and forth between the pictures Hollis draws of her memories, and real life events almost 1 year later. Hollis usually only stays at a foster home for a few weeks at a time, but one of her foster families is different… the Reagans: Izzy, The Old Man, and Steven. Hollis stays with them for a whole summer in their house in Branches, where she finally feels that she belongs. But, a tragic event happens, and Hollis runs away from the only family she’s ever known. Now, she lives with Josie, a retired art teacher with a secret. As she gets to know Josie more and more, Hollis realizes that she has to stay with Josie and help her keep her secret. While Hollis is staying with Josie, she finds out a little bit more about her. Josie carves people out of wood, she has a fiesty cat named Henry, and she has a cousin named Beatrice. When Beatrice visits New Mexico, Hollis stays with Josie. But, when the lady from the foster home finds out about Josie’s secret, she makes it her number one priority to remove Hollis from Josie’s care. Then, Hollis has to make the decision to stay with Josie, or run away from her problems. I can relate to Hollis because I loved my old school. It was my favorite out of all of the ones I’ve been to. But, my dad lost his job and since he didn’t work there anymore, I had to go to public school. Most of my friends went there, so I was kind of excited. Now I love my new school, and if I had the choice to back to my old school, I would probably say no. Public school is much closer and cheaper for my family anyway. I love this book because I like how Patricia Reilly Giff goes back and forth between real life, and Hollis’s pictures. It’s hard to imagine how Hollis just runs away from her foster homes without a trace. Even if they weren’t my real family, I still would stay with them. Hollis must really feel alone and scared. I mean, how would you feel if you had to sleep under the boardwalk sometimes! My favorite part of the book was at the end, when everything comes together. But, then again, that’s probably the best part of most stories! All in all, I give this book 4¾ stars out of 5. The book was amazing, but some parts were confusing, and weren’t explained at the end. Other than that, the book was filled with suspense and mystery. It displayed many examples of foreshadowing, so you have to look at the little details. If you would get confused going back and forth in time, this book may not be for you. In my opinion, the theme of this book was not to run away from your problems, but to face them head-on. Sometimes you will go through rough times in life, but in the end you will work it all out if you persevere. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. Yearling Books, 2004. 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!
