Since I was small, I have been a passionate reader, instantly drawn into stories that could be painted in words. When I discovered chapter books, I remember eagerly awaiting the moment when I could open a book and slip into its vivid colors and images. In an instant, I might feel the brush of rainbow-colored wind on my cheeks or hear the clear sound of river water gliding over rocks. The moment I finished a book, I couldn’t wait to pick up another one to take yet another leap into the world of an author’s imagination where it could be mixed with my own imagination, as if we were telling the story together as I read. This journey has always felt kind of like an instantly departing airplane, except that I never had to worry about how long until the plane reached its final destination. I could just enjoy the journey, and adapt to new places as I went, experiencing love, fear, danger, and courage through the eyes of other characters. And The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani was the first book, in particular, to show me how powerful my imagination was in being able to empathize with experiences that seemed entirely different but still somehow linked to my own. Since discovering The School for Good and Evil in fourth grade, I’ve read it seventeen times, and each time I open it up, I become instantly fascinated by the elaborate personalities of each character and the special powers they possessed, like the ability to cast spells with their glowing fingertips or concoct herbal potions that allowed for shape-shifting and falling in love. I couldn’t believe that a single author had created a world that was full of magic but still felt as real and true as my own life. I became determined to find out everything I could about his background as a writer, and on his website, I learned that not only had all his books had made it onto the New York Times Bestseller list, but his first series had been translated into twenty-seven languages across six different continents and was now being made into a movie by Universal Pictures. I was even more surprised to learn that Soman Chainani found enough time to work on writing his novels and screenplays while still playing tennis competitively in New York City. Up until that day, I had assumed that to be really good at something, you had to give everything else up in order to reach your goal. At least that was how I’d always viewed playing violin myself. Starting when I was small, I’ve devoted myself to practicing up to three hours every day, and ever since joining an international string ensemble last year, I’ve had to spend most weekends and at least two nights a week rehearsing. Soman Chainani was the first person to open up my mind to the possibility of writing a novel despite all of my other activities. If he had managed to make his dreams happen as a writer, filmmaker, and athlete, then maybe I could balance my passions for writing and music too. I decided that I would find time to write. My goal was to write for at least twenty minutes a day a few times week in the morning before school or after I finished my homework in the evening. I started off by writing poems and short pieces in response to writing prompts, and then slowly worked my way up to my first fantasy fiction novel. I didn’t know where to start with the story, exactly, but I did know I wanted my new grey tabby kitten named Daisy to be the heroine of my series. I decided to follow Soman Chainani’s lead and create my own imaginary world. I set the story in a large floating city named Skyworld that hovers above New York. In the opening pages, Daisy embarks on a journey to find her long-lost brother, Jacob. Along the way, she meets a wide cast of characters, many of them inspired by those found in The School for Good and Evil. But when I finished the first draft, a teacher told me I would need to ask Soman Chainani’s permission to use several of his character names in my own work. I was scared and nervous to email a famous author out of the blue, but relieved when just a few weeks later, Soman wrote me back, encouraging me to use the names of his characters as I continued writing. I was overjoyed to know that I wouldn’t have to change my story and could move forward in plotting the next story I had in mind for these characters, in working toward creating my very own series. Looking back, I realize that Soman Chainani has inspired me in more ways than one. Not only has he inspired my desire to write, but he has shown me that being an author also means being there for your readers. When some authors become famous, they might not take time out of their packed days to answer emails or requests, but Soman isn’t this way. He seems humble, kind, and supportive of his fans, and he wants them to feel motivated to do the hard work of writing an original story. If I become a published author one day, I hope to be there for my readers too, answering their questions and encouraging them to follow their dreams. Soman reminds me that being an author is about small, daily habits that add up in big ways. He has taught me that writing isn’t about making money or becoming famous, but it is about sitting down to make the time to write no matter what. I realized that as long as I can carve out this space, not only am I setting my mind free to build exciting new worlds out of my imagination, but in the process I might inspire others to do the same.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Saturday Newsletter: October 27, 2018
I wanted to run and bide, but my feet were cemented to the ground Illustration by Kamiye Hoang Mai Davis,13, for “Haunted Mansion” by Lyla Lawless,13. Published in Stone Soup, July/August 2007. A note from William Rubel There was an article this week in the British newspaper The Guardian about a group of teenagers in Wales who decided they wanted to make a movie out of a story by the super-famous American author Stephen King. They wrote to him asking whether they could purchase rights to a story for a price they could afford—and he responded immediately: “Yes! I’ll sell you non-commercial rights for $1.00.” You can read the story here. Why do I bring this up? Three reasons. First, to remind you of what you already know—a story or novel can be the starting point for the same story to be told a different way. Today, this different way is most often in the form of a film, though making a play, dance, opera, or podcast is also an option. The second reason is to remind you that when you rework someone else’s creative work, you need to ask permission if you intend to perform the work publicly. And the third reason is to remind you that because you are children, you will often be given permission to do something that grownups might not. Stephen King is unlikely to give me permission to make a film of any of his work for $1.00. So, if you and a group of friends or a club you are part of at your school have something ambitious in mind—like making a movie of a story by a famous author—don’t give up before you start. Write for permission and see what happens! William’s Weekend Project That brings me to the project for today. I want you to take all or part of an existing creative work—“all” would be the complete work, like the complete novel, and “part” might be a chapter or a section—and turn it into something else. That something else could be turning a paragraph into an illustration or turning an illustration into a paragraph. If there is a piece of music that means a lot to you, you could turn it into a dance or a poem—or even a drawing or painting. What I am encouraging you to do here is explore the strengths of different literary and artistic genres. What can you say with words that you cannot say in in a drawing? What can you say in a drawing that you cannot say in words? What can you say in a dance that remains true to a particular piece of music but also expresses something that the music cannot? I think you get the idea. As always, if you come up with something that you are particularly excited about, please send it to our editor, Emma Wood, via the online submission page. Until next week, Great news about anthologies! I have previously mentioned that we are in the process of revising and reissuing the Stone Soup anthologies. I can announce today that the first revised volumes are at the printer, and the rest will follow soon. Joe Ewart, our London-based designer, has just posted the covers to his website. Click on the Stone Soup Book of Animal Stories cover to pull up the rest of the covers. While you are at Joe’s site, then you may want to look around at his other work. Joe is also the designer for Stone Soup’s print issues. Joe brings to Stone Soupa striking, modern-yet-classic design that says to the world “What our writers and artists have to say matters.” My colleague Jane Levi has revised the anthologies by merging earlier editions together—for some topics we had multiple versions of anthologies with the same theme—and by adding material to further round out volumes. For example, 50 poems have been added to the poetry volume! Jane went all the way back to the first issues of Stone Soupin 1973 to find material. What she noticed in doing this is that the quality of Stone Soup’s stories and poems has been remarkably consistent from the start. While I know that those of you writing for Stone Soupare conscious that you’re just starting out as writers, Jane was struck by how much of the work is worth reading, full stop. She found herself sending great stories to her adult friends and having them tell her they had passed them on to their friends, super impressed with the quality. In other words, many of the works are so good that they’d be a credit to any publisher or age group. That is what Stone Soupis about—showing that kids can be creative on a level that does not require readers to downgrade their expectations. In other words, we are about publishing great literature—full stop. Partnership news Miacademy We have an exciting partnership in place with Miacademy, the interactive learning site for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Writing from Stone Soup is being featured on their site, and Miacademy subscribers have the opportunity to submit their work to us as well. As part of this partnership, our friends at Miacademy are offering generous discounts to Stone Soup subscribers: 20–40 percent off, depending on which type of subscription you purchase. To find out more about Miacademy and explore the various services on offer, visit their website and read the information for parents. If you choose to join, simply enter the code STONESOUP2018 at the checkout to receive your discount. Secret Kids contest As readers of this newsletter will already know, we are running a contest in partnership with Mackenzie Press: the Secret Kids Contest. All of the details are on our website—suffice to say that if you are under the age of 18 and working on a long-form piece of writing, you should be thinking about getting it ready to submit by the end of the year. If you do, you’ll have the chance to win a publishing contract for your very own book! Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our book reviewers and young
Alex Rider: Never Say Die, Reviewed by Aaron Du, 11
Following the tragic death of his female guardian, Jack Starbright, Alex Rider moves from his home in London to San Francisco to live with his friend, Sabina Pleasure. However, a few weeks later, Alex receives an email that makes him believe that Jack might be alive after all… The Alex Rider series, by Anthony Horowitz, has never lost me once. The books get better and better, every time! Never Say Die, the tenth book, didn’t break the pattern. The series is about a fourteen-fifteen year old boy named Alex Rider. Alex’s parents died when he was a few weeks old, and he was sent to live with his uncle, Ian Rider, who’s secretly an MI6 agent. When Alex is seven, Jack is hired to be his caretaker, and she stays with him even after Ian dies on a mission for the British Intelligence agency. Now MI6 has taken an interest in Alex because Ian had bragged about “training” Alex. They use him in many dangerous missions, against his own will. In Alex’s most recent mission, Jack is killed by the enemy, leaving Alex more alone than ever, though MI6 seems to be finally done with him. Never Say Die brings Alex back into the action, when he finds out that Jack might be alive after all, but realizes that finding her isn’t his only problem. The search takes him to the Sahara Desert of Egypt. There, he learns about twin criminals who might be linked to Jack. They are about to carry out “Operation Steel Claw”. If Alex doesn’t stop them, the lives of fifty-two children could be at stake. There are several reasons why I like this series. For one, Alex always tries to remain calm, recollect his thoughts, and come up with a solution even in the most stressful situations. In the seventh book, Snakehead, Alex’s organs are about to be sold on the black market! I don’t think I would be able to even think straight if I were in his position! I admire how Alex can immediately think up a way to get out of his seemingly impossible predicament. This leads to another reason why I like this series so much. There is suspense on every page, with one adventure leading to the next. Even at the end of each book, there is always a hint that Alex isn’t done yet. However, if Alex was too smart for the criminals, it would get boring. So, Anthony Horowitz pits Alex against very intelligent and creative antagonists, who will do almost anything to get what they want. In the sixth book, Ark Angel, the criminal sends a space hotel hurling into the Pentagon in order to erase his records. Reading Alex Rider’s ongoing adventure is like listening to Tchaikovsky, with a lot of dynamics: quieter, more peaceful parts and louder and exciting parts, all put together to make a great masterpiece. I would recommend this series for readers as young as 9. These books also appeal to 14 and 15 year-olds because Alex’s age progresses from 14 to 15. I really enjoy Anthony Horowitz’s writing because of his creative plots and lifelike characters. Once I outgrow the Alex Rider series, I will still be excited because there is a great selection of adult books by Anthony Horowitz, too. I hope you will give this series a try and enjoy it as much as I do. Alex Rider: Never Say Die by Anthony Horowitz. Walker Books, 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!
