Our Editor, Emma Wood, was interviewed by Jim Harrington for his “Six Questions For…” series, where editors and publishers discuss writing flash fiction, short stories, poetry, and novels. It’s a short interview, but they are great questions! Read the full page, via the link below, and find out what Emma revealed about what she looks for in the art and writing that makes it all the way through the process to publication in Stone Soup. http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/2018/06/six-questions-for-stone-soup.html
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Saturday Newsletter: June 23, 2018
I screamed and bit frantically, but I couldn’t escape Illustrator Max Strebel, 10 for Catalina, My Friend by Francisca Thomas, 13 Published January/February 2001. Notes from Jane Levi and Emma Wood This week’s artwork (and the story it illustrates) expresses some of what we at Stone Soup have been feeling in recent weeks as we read and watched the news about infants and children being separated from their families at America’s borders. Our archives contain many works by young refugees and immigrants who have seen and experienced war, flight from home, and other trials, and have been able to tell their stories in the pages of Stone Soup. This week’s story from the archives, Catalina, My Friend, touches on these topics in an unexpected way: the story is told entirely from the perspective of a bird, the scarlet macaw powerfully depicted above. The bird cannot speak for itself (just as a very small child is unable to talk), but this young writer was able to enter the imaginative space of—and give a voice to—another being, able to experience fear, sorrow, pain and love, even if they can’t articulate those feelings in language. The young artist who made the image also speaks to the fear and horror experienced by those being caged, manhandled, and torn away from the safety of what they know and love. The wooden box in the foreground, the bars of the cage behind, the uniform-colored clothes and the hairy arms of the gloved man grasping the macaw provide a stark contrast with its scarlet beauty. The perspective emphasizes the small size and fragility of the bird, and its helplessness against this faceless adult cruelty. The Children’s Art Foundation, the trust that publishes Stone Soup, believes passionately in creativity as a means of expression. We know that art is a communication tool that can help to build real understanding and compassion between people. We urge all of you trying to make sense of current events to use the search window always at the top right of the website to find stories and art we have published by children over the last four-and-a-half decades that speak to these themes. This week, we have supported the Publishers Weekly Kid Lit campaign, Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages. Any funds donated to their campaign will be shared with a number of organisations supporting immigrant and refugee children, women and families, and we are sharing the link to their donation page so that any of our readers who wish to can show their support. We also renew the call that our founder, William Rubel, made some months ago for anyone who would like to work with us to bring creative support to children in these situations to get in touch by replying to this newsletter. Some exciting attention for our young bloggers We were more than thrilled this week when none other than Rick Riordan retweeted a link to a book review by one of our Stone Soup book reviewers! Yes, the actual Rick Riordan, @camphalfblood, is reading our reviews and recommending that other people read them too (as well as the books, of course)! Congratulations to Nina Vigil, the 11-year-old writer and reader whose review of Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi was picked up by one of our favourite authors. We hope it encourages the rest of you to keep on writing and reviewing. You never know who’s reading! Until next time A Call for Science Writing and a Peek into the Stone Soup Archives When I was growing up, I was fascinated by Pompeii, the ancient Roman City that was preserved under layers of volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted. More recently, when I moved to California, I became fascinated with the history of the local landscape and with the new weather patterns. What in the natural world fascinates you? We are still soliciting nonfiction science writing for our September issue and would love to read about your fascinations. Take this as a challenge to learn more about something on your own and write about it in a brief essay. The deadline is July 1. In other news, we have scanned the entire back catalog of Stone Soup magazine, and have just made available archival sets of the very earliest issues of Stone Soup. PDF versions of the magazine from our first decade—1973 to 1984—are for sale now in two sets of 25-28 issues each. We are working on making our entire archive available, in sets of PDFs as well as in individual PDFs (and other digital formats), in the coming months. Until next week Read the latest updates on our blog Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at stonesoup.com! Get creative with clay: A Summer Guide to Polymer Clay Fun! by Nushu Shri Read the latest book review (and catch up on your reading over the summer): J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone reviewed by Abhi Sukhdial I suppose for a human she was a little girl, but to me she was gigantic From Stone Soup January/February 2001 Catalina, My Friend By Francisca Thomas, 13 Illustrated by Max Strebel, 10 My earliest memory is of being trapped in a box. It was a large cardboard shoebox with a few holes punched into the side for air. Light glowed through the holes, but I couldn’t see through them; I could only feel myself sliding from side to side as the box was tossed around. I didn’t understand what was going on, and I was terrified. Then, I remember, the movement suddenly stopped. The lid of the box was lifted and I was bathed in blinding light. I blinked. I fluttered my almost featherless little wings. I squeaked pitifully. Then I saw her. I suppose for a human she was a little girl, but to me she was gigantic. Still, I wasn’t afraid. She looked so gentle. I stared into her deep brown eyes and squeaked again. Her face, a dark tan color, broke into a delighted smile. “A bird?” she said. “For me?” “Happy seventh birthday, Catalina,” said one of the huge people surrounding me. “This loro, this parrot, marks the one
A Summer Guide to Polymer Clay Fun!
Summer has just begun, and with hours and days of free time, why not try something new? After all, summer is about having fun while accomplishing what you can’t during the school year. An exciting art form you can learn this summer is sculpting with polymer clay. Three years ago, I began using this type of clay to make many charms, from cupcakes to pigs to ice cream. Now you can do so, too! The first thing to do before you start is to invest in a solid brand of clay. I use Sculpey 3 because of its convenience. It has the perfect texture, doesn’t dry out, and bakes relatively quickly. I have also tried Sculpey Premo, but this brand isn’t as easy to mold, and it crumbles quickly. However, for experienced users who want the greater variety of colors, this may be perfect. There are many other brands available, so you can experiment and have fun with them! For tools, I’d suggest not to get anything too fancy. A simple plastic knife and clay roller are likely good enough. These may actually come with the clay that you purchase (I know they do with some of the Sculpey 3 sets), which makes life a lot easier! If not, just purchase a few of your favorites. As you decide what to make, watch tutorials to learn different techniques of molding clay, cutting it, mixing colors, etc. It’s great to learn a few tips and tricks to make your designs look professional. Another person’s perspective can really change your perception of a design, too! For example, I’d seen many photos of complicated clay dragons and was wary of making my own. However, after watching tutorials, I realized I needed to take things step by step and had the courage to create one. I also like to take inspiration from photos on the internet and change them up a little. In fact, it’s very fun to do so-as long as you don’t get carried away at looking at the pretty pictures for hours (what, no, I didn’t do that before… 😉 ). One tip I’d like to share is to pay attention to detail. If you’re sculpting with polymer clay, you’re likely working on a small scale. Try to work through each portion of your design carefully, and take your time. Polymer clay requires much patience, but is very rewarding! Also, a lot of the time my creations change as I sculpt, so don’t worry about sticking to one perfect idea you have in mind. It’s cool to see what you come up with as you go! Finally, don’t feel bad if your designs don’t turn out perfect. Mine never turn out exactly how I want, and that’s just part of the process! Pay attention to what you can improve on, practice new techniques to get better. Over time, you will (I promise). Before we wrap up, I’ve included a few of my creations below for some inspiration. Happy sculpting! Congratulations, you’re all ready to get working with polymer clay! What will you create this summer? You can start off with something simple, like these skates. Try mixing and matching colors to make some yummy cupcakes! You can even try out different ways to make frosting. This was inspired by a tutorial for a wall hanging I found on Youtube, proving that you can collect inspiration from any type of video! This came out very different from the person’s wall hanging, but I love it nonetheless. A Dragon! I can’t forget the above dragon’s friend, now, can I? A Disney princess- can you guess which one?
