Do you ever worry about anything when you are in school? About your grade on a test? About who your new lab partner will be? Arianna Hazard worries too, but her worry is where she will sleep at night. When Gage, Ari’s brother decides he can’t live with Janna, their guardian, anymore, Ari goes with him to live in his “new apartment.” But it turns out that Gage doesn’t really have a new apartment, and they start crashing at different friends’ houses. Ari didn’t really want to leave Janna, but felt that she needed to because of a promise she had made to her mother that Ari and Gage would “always stick together.” Arianna and Gage go from house to house to avoid frigid nights in Maine. Showers are no longer available, and her class now looks at her as a dirty child. Worse than that, her teachers now have low expectations of her and even her best friend joins with others that stare at Arianna’s greasy hair all day. Tired of people making fun of her, Ari doesn’t know what to do. Adding to her problems is a second promise Ari made to her mother that she would get into Carter Junior High School, a very selective school. Both of her parents and even Gage had gotten into Carter so this places a whole lot more pressure on Arianna. As the application deadline draws closer, Arianna worries more and more. At the same time, Ari feels ashamed about being homeless, so she decides to keep it a secret from everyone else. I did some research and found out that homelessness is a hidden problem in many towns. When children are homeless, they are often embarrassed at the fact and try to keep it hidden as they struggle to concentrate at school. They get bullied and made fun of, like Ari did for her dirty clothes and “greasy hair.” Being homeless can also make it hard to do homework if you don’t have a desk to write on. This situation is all around the world, even in places where you might not expect to see it, and this book made me aware of this. Even in my own town and in my own school there are kids that are homeless. Sometimes, as a child, you don’t know about poverty and homelessness; all you really think about is happiness. Paper Things is an amazing story full of happiness and sadness balanced like a seesaw. Sometimes you will feel yourself cheering Arianna on, supporting her as you read. Other times, you will feel your stomach ache for her to stay strong and never give in again. Other times, you will feel frustrated with her brother or angry at the people who are being mean to her. The author, Jennifer Jacobson, wrote this story in a tone that makes the reader want to never let go of the book. The main character Arianna feels like a close friend that you’ve never met but know a lot about. Jacobson describes the characters so well, it is as if they are real. In my opinion, this book will appeal to readers who love realistic fiction. The author wrote the story in such a manner that it was like I was on a leash, captivated by the book and not wanting to look away. The story actually does have a wonderful ending but you will need to find out what it is for yourself. So don’t waste time, and go check out Paper Things now! Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Candlewick, 2014. Buy the book here and support 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
Video Game Review: The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild
Image by Eric Holsinger via Creative Commons The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (BOTW) video game recently came out and already people are falling in love with it. I play it on the Nintendo Switch. First, let’s talk about the things that make it AMAZING!!. BOTW is a mega open world game, I’m not even joking. The map is 120x bigger than a regular U.S map, making it a long game that will leave you exploring for hours. You are Link and your goal is to defeat Ganon (he is the bad guy) and rescue the beautiful Princess Zelda. There are a variety of things that Link can collect to help him on his adventure. For example, Korok seeds. They expand your inventory. The bad news is once you collect all 900, you get Hestu’s gift which is poop! The graphics are also brilliant– not only are the natural surroundings lush and green, but the characters like the Lynel (centaur), Hinox (cyclops) and the Molduga (giant sand fish) look scary and powerful. BOTW is also unique compared to a lot of other open-world games because you can play the game in any order – in other words you play the story line starting at the beginning, the middle, or the end. For instance you can just fight Ganon, the villain, at the beginning of the game! (But I wouldn’t do that if I were you because you would die in seconds!). It also features tons of tricky challenges that make the game hard to complete in one sitting. If you do truly want to complete the game, you’ll be surprised by how long it will take you. It took me 30-40 days to complete the main storyline!!! Now let’s talk about the game’s faults. First the bosses. The bosses are challenging don’t get me wrong, but they are predictable. Each one is just a different form of Ganon. For example, one of the bosses is called Windblight Ganon and he does moves that are “windlike”. The same goes for Waterblight Ganon, Thunderblight Ganon, and Fireblight Ganon. You get the picture? Another problem is that the characters and their dialogue sometimes don’t make any sense. Like for instance, the characters who die come back as memories to Link. One of those memories is called Subdued Ceremony. In that memory the characters talk unlike normal people using fancy words and sentences. But all in all BOTW is a game that is age-appropriate for most children. There’s no blood or gore when fighting monsters or enemies, though there is combat. BOTW won The Game Of The Year in 2017 and I can see why. It is a challenging and cool mega-puzzle game packed with action and adventure at every turn. So go out and tell your mom or dad, “ I want this game right now!” Have fun!
Saturday Newsletter: March 24, 2018
He licked my fingers and I felt that the model dog didn’t matter to me anymore Illustrator Garrett Landon, 11, for Little Pal by Nikki Morse, 12, in Stone Soup Magazine July/August 2000. A note from William Rubel Jet lag! Traveling is great, but there are side effects! I got back from warm Israel via freezing London (literally) to a rainy week in Northern California. Next week, I’m going to Taiwan for my daughter’s Spring break. So the next Newsletter will be produced from Taipei. Being honest, as I am often working at the last minute, Taipei is actually a great place to be writing the Newsletter as we post it Saturday morning California time which is Sunday in Taiwan. All of you writers will understand that means more time to procrastinate! Science Fiction Contest reminder Speaking of procrastinating, the deadline for submitting a story to our science fiction contest is 11:59 pm on April 1, Pacific Coast Time. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates of $80 (first place), $40 (second place), $20 (third place), and $10 (fourth place). The prize-winners will be published either in the magazine or on the website. The authors of highly commended stories that do not win prizes will also be acknowledged. Upload your submission the usual way — click on the submission link, below. Celebrating our Young Bloggers, and a joint adult/kid nature-writing challenge I am very pleased with how our Young Bloggers project is going. Some really interesting writing has been posted. If you are Stone Soup writing age, which is age 13 and under, and if the Young Blogger posts inspire you, then go to the submissions button and upload an example of what you’d like to blog about. If our editor, Emma Wood likes it, then she will make you a Stone Soup blogger. All subjects welcome. The recent post I am featuring today is “Rain” by Lukas Cooke. I think this is an utterly brilliant piece of writing. It is very difficult describing what you see and experience. Storms are particularly difficult to evoke with words. Lukas does an incredible job describing a rain storm, first from observing it inside his house, and then from outside where he is standing in the rain. I’d like to share this passage with you: “The wind seemed to be whistling a tune, accompanied by the soft percussion of rain hitting the ground and splashing in puddles. Dancing to that tune were the trees, swaying back and forth, rejoicing in the water that so eagerly rushed down to quench their thirst. The frogs too, could be heard from inside the house, their chorus befitting the scene. And the frogs too, were rejoicing in the long–needed downpour.” I am a writer and all I can say is, wow! The wind whistles, the trees dance, the frogs rejoice. This passage demonstrates Lukas’ power as a writer as he takes common ideas–the whistling wind, the dancing trees, and the chorus of frogs–and fleshes them out in a dynamic prose that has emotional depth, grace, and rhythm. Notice how he injects emotions and feelings through the core words and ideas he uses to describe the scene. He speaks of the trees “rejoicing in the water that so eagerly rushed down to quench their thirst.” Lukas’ tree is intensely alive, as is the water that rushes down to it. I find this idea of a dancing tree rejoicing in the rain to be powerfully evocative. One of the most memorable storm scenes in English literature is in a short story, Typhoon, by the great Polish-British writer, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924). While Conrad tackled describing a hurricane from the vantage point of a boat in peril on the high seas, Lukas has tackled something that I think may be even more difficult. He describes a storm that is within our experience. Everyone reading his story, whether conscious of doing so or not, will be comparing Lukas’ description of the rain with their own experiences. We know exactly what a storm such as the one Lukas describes is like. A false step would stick out. What I want you to do this weekend, and I am speaking here to all of you reading the Newsletter this week, whether you are still a student or whether you are a parent or grandparent, is to join Lukas in describing the weather that is right outside your door. I want you to do it this weekend. The challenge is to make something of whatever the day is like when you start writing. If you are together (kids and grownups) then do this together. When you read Lukas’ complete text you will see that he is clearly thinking deeply about how to say what he wants to say. You can see he worked hard to express the full depth and complexity of his experience. If you feel you are struggling to say what you want to say, then that is good. On your first couple of drafts please let yourself go. Don’t censor what you are writing. Don’t edit yourself. The first words that you write to describe the day may not turn out to be the best words to use. That doesn’t matter. Get the ideas down, make a word sketch, and then later, perfect it. If you end up really liking what you have written, and if you think that you make your readers feel and see the moment of the day you are describing (and you are 13 or under), then please submit it to Stone Soup. You may also send what you have written to me just by replying to the Newsletter. And if you are a kid and actually managed to get an adult to write along with you, then email your joint pieces to me as well. One of our advisors once suggested that we publish work by parents and grandparents, so lets see what comes of this idea. Once I have a few paired works by kids and adults, I’ll have a better idea of what to do with them. And, if you are an adult Newsletter reader but without kids to work with–well, take up the challenge, anyway. What do you see out the window? Until next week,
