The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis details the experiences of the Malones, a strong African American family whose journey spans the states of Indiana and Michigan during the years of the Great Depression. Reading about the Malone’s challenged me to be more grateful for my own family and for the special journey we are on. Deza Malone, who starts out as a daydreaming Gary, Indiana, schoolgirl writing verbose essays, is the mighty main character of the story. Her poor but strong family is a comforting blanket of dignity and joy. Her older brother Jimmy is small for his age but gifted with a singing voice. Her hardworking father calls Deza his “Darling Daughter.” Practical yet caring, her mother is tirelessly dedicated to holding the family together. Their family motto, “We are a family on a journey to a place called Wonderful.” The next year for the Malones is certainly not wonderful. Their poor but happy family life in Gary, and with that Deza’s academic promise ahead, is torn apart. A tragedy happens to their father while out fishing and he leaves Deza and her mother and brother to find work. Deza, Jimmy, and their mother are soon forced to leave Gary, too. Without a true home, they travel around the Detroit cities of Michigan and Flint for the next year, experiencing shantytowns, racism, and unemployment. The year is full of heartbreak and trials, warping the family blanket, but the separated family’s love and values remain unchanged. Through the story, Deza grows in maturity. Her humorous, spirited self is made stronger after experiencing the hard realities of poverty and separation from those she loves. Bravely, she even goes unaccompanied into the dark places of the city to find her brother, who leaves them in the middle of the book for a job as a professional singer. As I read, I was challenged by how Deza’s family persevered and stayed together in spirit with unchanging values and devotion, even as everything around them fell apart. I became more grateful for my own family—my goal-oriented and thoughtful father, energetic and dedicated mother, rambunctious eleven-year-old brother, and playful four-year-old sister—and more aware of how they thoughtfully dedicate themselves to sewing my passions and interests into the family tapestry. When my family moved last summer from Ontario to Connecticut and we were separated from my father for two months. Just as Deza, Jimmy, and their mother let their family values shine during that time of separation, I tied my relationship with my mother tighter and had the opportunity to step up to the new kind of help she needed. Once we moved, I had to say goodbye to my friends and dreams in Ontario. Despite the disappointment and the exhaustion of starting over in a new place, my family has stayed together in strength and spirit. The Mighty Miss Malone is an exciting read, and the reflection afterwards is just as rewarding. The book is suspenseful but the character development is not rushed; joy and sorrow are intermingled but not in the least bit creating melodrama. Deza’s friendly spirit resonated within my heart, through big experiences and lighthearted moments alike, and I was united with Deza’s family on their journey. Reading The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis inspired me on my own family’s journey and challenged me to be more grateful for the tapestry that my family, with love, continues to sew. The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis. Yearling Books, 2013. Buy the book here and support the Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Saturday Newsletter: May 5, 2018
“Wait!” yelled Veronica. She could barely run in her heels. Illustrator Natalia Dunyak, 13 for her story Galactic Rebels, Published January/February 2015. A note from Editor Emma Wood Congratulations to our Science Fiction Contest Winners! First Place ($80): “Middlenames” by Thomas Faulhaber, 13 Second Place ($40): “Young Eyes” by Allie Aguila, 12 Third Place ($20): “The Mystical Creatures of Blue Spout Bay,” by Marlena Rohde, 12 Fourth Place ($10): “Sunk” by Benjamin Mitchell, 13 Honorable Mentions: “The Transmitter” by Sabrina Guo, 12 “Holding On,” by Macy Li, 12 “Shhh” by Harper Miller, 11 I have to admit: when we put out a call for our science fiction contest, I was nervous. Even growing up, I didn’t read a lot of science fiction, and I certainly don’t read a lot of it now. Because I’m not as familiar with it as a genre, I didn’t feel very comfortable with the idea of judging a contest! But, once I started reading, I realized what a good reminder this contest was—a reminder of the fact that a good story is a good story, regardless of genre. The stories that stood out to us were the ones that would have stood out to us in general submissions as well. They were stories that used exciting language, that created realistic worlds, that kept us engaged, that created suspense, and that ultimately led us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and our world. Many stories stood out to us for different reasons, but the few that we chose were really remarkable: “Middlenames,” the winning story, offers an imaginative critique of religion and class through an invented society that assigns you a middlename—which determines your identity for life—at birth. “Young Eyes” explores the dangers of technology, and both “Mystical Creatures of Blue Spout Bay” and “Sunk” take radically different approaches to climate change. We’re excited to share the full stories with you in a special Science issue that will be published this September. Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you for your wonderful work! Your Amazon voucher prizes will be with you this weekend. The September Science Special Issue We need more science-related work to complement our contest winners’ stories in the science special issue. To that end: we are putting out a call for all science-related and science-inspired nonfiction, poetry, and art submissions to include in our September issue! Have you completed a science project recently? Are you fascinated by dinosaurs or comets? Do you love to photograph butterflies? If so, we would love to hear from you. You can either submit: a scientifically-inspired poem, drawing, photograph, collage, or sculpture a write-up of a science project you completed (this might include images, to illustrate processes you discuss, or different stages of an experiment) a researched nonfiction essay about a subject that interests you (this might also include a personal narrative about your interest) Please write with any questions and please submit your work soon! The deadline for this issue is July 1st. May 2018 issue online now–and in print very soon Our May issue is out this week, and I hope you all take some time over the weekend (or whenever you have time) to enjoy the range of poetry, stories and art we’ve chosen for you this month. The issue is online now, and subscribers can download a pdf version to print at home or browse on an offline reader of your choice. We are also now back in print! Individual issues are for sale in our online store(amazon.com/stonesoup). January to April 2018 are in stock and shipping now; and May 2018 is available for pre-order. The printing presses are running, and copies of our May issue will be with us and ready to ship to you in the middle of the month. Whichever format you choose, please enjoy all the wonderful work our young authors and artists produce, tell your friends about it, and leave a comment at our website if there is something you particularly respond to. It’s your support that makes Stone Soup all that it is. Until next week, Emma It was so realistic it didn’t look like a hologram From Stone Soup January/February 2015 Galactic Rebels Written and illustrated by Natalia Dunyak, 13 The Galactic Soldier Code To protect the peace of the Milky Way, To fight bravely on land, sea, air, and space, To execute the orders of our superiors, We are the Galactic Soldiers. Jade’s cell was a small, cramped space, with bare white walls and floor, except for a small bed, sink, toilet, and mirror. She paced back and forth, her legs burning and the tattoo of her boots soothing her. I’m running out of time, she thought bitterly. I need to get out of here. Beads of sweat collected on her forehead, her heart beating like a drum in her chest. She sighed and pressed her back against the wall. She stopped to look at her reflection. She was startled by it. Her deep blue eyes were shaken with fear. A hunk of black hair covered the left side of her face. The one blue highlight stood out. She eyed her uniform—tight black shirt and pants, made for ease in slipping in and out of spacesuits. The purple band on her right arm finally caught her attention. The band had two thin letters, GS, and a crude drawing of an eagle circling Earth in orbit. It was the symbol of the Galactic Soldiers. Jade was part of this group, the space combat branch of the military, founded shortly after the discovery of other planetary life. The soldiers were trained to be diplomats and defend the galaxy from harm. They went through intense training and had to understand the ins and outs of astrophysics. Jade excelled through training and rose through the ranks. She and other officers were sent on the spacecraft Athena to travel to the Alpha Centauri solar system. This mission would determine the fate of the Earth. She sighed as tears swelled in her eyes; she buried her face in her hands as
Turtles All the Way Down, Reviewed by Rachel Freilich, 13
John Green, acclaimed author of The Fault in our Stars, is back after nearly five years with his new novel, Turtles all the Way Down. In this novel, Aza introduces her friend Daisy to us. Aza and Daisy are trying to solve the investigation of a billionaire gone missing for the prize of a large sum of money. Coincidentally, Aza knows the son of the billionaire, Davis Pickett, so they figure that they will become friends with him to discover more about his father. Aza also has raging anxiety and she worries that she’s not in control of her own mind. She gets overcome with spiraling thoughts about the bacteria that could be invading her body. Daisy always tries to tell Aza that she is always stuck on baseless thoughts in her own head. Meanwhile, Davis and Aza are hanging out more and start to become closer, which is exciting and terrifying for Aza, Davis, and even Daisy. As I was reading Turtles all the Way Down, from Aza’s perspective, I realized how John Green visualized Aza’s anxiety. Aza’s anxiety is a downward spiral for her; it keeps on going and gets worse unless she can put a stop to it. As usual, John Green’s writing is heartbreaking, funny and relatable, too. His writing makes you visualize a spiral in your head, while imagining how it connects to many moments in your own life. In showing Aza’s anxiety, he brings that issue to life. He shows how people can fight with anxiety and overcome it. While reading, I was relating Aza’s anxiety to my own life. When I get stressed, I feel that there is a spiral in my mind and that nothing can overtake it. Aza’s life and how she tries to overcome her anxiety, motivates me to stop my ongoing spiral and calm down. Although some people do not have anxiety, they can also imagine and connect a spiral to many moments of their own life. While reading, I also thought of many reasons that John Green would write this book and one major one came to my mind. Not only is John Green raising awareness for teens with anxiety, but he is also showing how he overcomes his own anxiety. Raising awareness for teens with anxiety is extremely important. John Green writes about mental illness in this book to show teens the importance of dealing with psychiatric issues and to teach teens to overcome their anxiety. This novel is very meaningful because it shows how to get debilitating thoughts out of their own head. Aza wants to overcome her anxiety, but cannot control it because of fear that something bad will happen to her. That’s the essence of Aza’s fear and the feeling of being taken over by outside influences and not being her own person. At one point, Aza thinks about how the string from one musical instrument can cause the string of another to vibrate. In essence, that’s what this novel does too. When you start reading it, there is a chain of events that spiral, and you cannot put the book down. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2017. Buy the book here and support the Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!
