An update from our thirtieth Book Club meeting! On September 25, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed Beyond the Bright Sea, by Loren Wolk. Beyond the Bright Sea tells the story of twelve-year-old Crow and her search for her birth family after having spent her entire life on an isolated island off the coast of Massachusetts, with Osh, the guardian who rescued and raised her. There were ten Book Club participants in attendance from the US, England, and Dubai. We engaged in in-depth conversations about the book’s various themes as well as character, setting and plot. As always, we endeavored to unpack how and for what purpose each of these elements were crafted in Wolk’s development of the novel. We also participated in a couple of fun writing activities. We explored, in writing, the notion of home; what makes a place a home and what is it like to feel a sense of yearning for home? Participants could choose to share their reflections about home directly from their own perspectives, or to explore their ideas about home through a fictionalized account. We also engaged in a writing activity that allowed us to imagine a sequel to the book. In doing so, we discussed what aspects of the book’s current ending we would like to see preserved, and what aspects would be fun to disrupt! The overwhelming consensus of the group was that this was a great read with vivid, believable characters, an intriguing setting, and a fast-paced, exciting plot! Remember: if you attended book club and liked what you wrote for these activities, submit it through the Writing Workshop Submission Form and we will post it along with other stories on the Stone Soup website! At the conclusion of our discussion, we chose our October book and the December book was announced! Our Next Book, to be discussed on October 30: When Stars are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed We are excited to share that on, December 11th, our final Book Club meeting of this session, we will be joined by author and historian, Lucy Worsley, to discuss her book The Austen Girls!
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Flash Contest #35, September 2021: Write a story about you, but in a parallel universe where you had a different life—our winners and their work
Our September Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #168 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which asked participants to write about themselves with one small twist: the story had to take place inside a parallel universe where they led a different life. The prompt was interpreted in myriad ways, with many branching into the realm of science fiction, others into fantasy, and some choosing to remain within the world of the mundane. We were dazzled by participants’ creativity, our minds taken on journeys to a car ride with a yapping dad, a dystopian future where fires reigned supreme, a skillfully disguised Magic Store, and much, much more! As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “The Concert” by Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) “Recognition” by Serena Lin, 10 (Scarsdale, NY) “Are you Ready?” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “Phoenix” by Eliya Wee, 11 (Menlo Park, CA) “The Magic Store” by Chloe Yang, 12 (Cranbury, NJ) Honorable Mentions “A Day with My Drox” by Tahra Araujo, 9 (Brooklyn, NY) “The Puzzle” by Anushka Dhar, 12 (Hillsborough, NJ) “Normal Universe/Parallel Universe” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 9 (Brooklyn, NY) “Mechanical Master” by Rishab Suresh, 13 (Sanford, FL) “Duplicates” by Emily Tang, 12 (Winterville, NC) Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) The Concert Lucas Hinds, 13 “Time to get up, boys!” my mom shouted, waking me. “Please, just 30 more minutes,” I mumbled. “No way!” she said sternly. “We have to get ready. We have a concert to go to.” A muffled sigh came from behind me. I looked back, but didn’t see Peyton anywhere. He was buried in the warm, comfy sleeping bag. Tired from our late sleepover shenanigans, we grudgingly got ready to go. When we finally walked out the door—the sun shining high and bright in the sky—we got into the truck and headed out. My dad plays trombone for the Oak Ridge Community Band, and all the concerts are at the amphitheater in Oak Ridge, so we get to visit the ‘Secret City’ any time my dad has a concert, which is quite often. Today was one of those days. “What a beautiful day!” I said sleepily. “I hate mornings,” I heard Peyton mumble. “I’ve always been a night owl.” The trip was extra uneventful. My family has never been that talkative during car rides. You hear stories about games and songs and all kinds of things families do during rides. Not our family. All we do is listen to the radio and enjoy the scenery. Only the occasional history lesson from my dad about the Oak Ridge National Laboratories or stories about the river being radioactive. My dad was so predictable in this respect that you could sense when he was about to go off. I knew he was about to go off on a tangent. “Get ready. My dad is about to go off on one of his stories. I can sense it,” I warned Peyton. “Wait wh—” “Boys, we’re about to pass by one of the most secret laboratories in the US. They made a lot of progress in nuclear technology and—” My dad was interrupted by a powerful force hitting our truck, nearly toppling it over, then we heard an ear shattering BOOM! As we looked outside, the sky was thick with a purplish hue. “What was that?” Peyton asked. We looked around and were surprised to see no effect on the surrounding environment. “Probably just some dumb teenagers trying to cause trouble,” my dad guessed. “I remember doing things exactly like this when I was your guys’ age. In fact, back in my time, you could…” “Oh, here he goes again,” I whispered to Peyton. The rest of the ride was filled with tales from my dad’s childhood. When we finally made it to the concert, everyone was shouting at us. “Tom! We’ve been waiting for you! What happened?” “Come on! Are we gonna warm up or what?” He was visibly confused at first, but then he realized something. “Alright! Let’s get started!” He shouted to the band. “Let’s start with something simple, ‘The Star Spangled Banner!” “What’s going on? He’s not supposed to be the conductor.” I whispered to Peyton. “I don’t know, but something’s up.” He replied. “I think it has something to do with the explosion back there. Maybe an experiment gone wrong.” The rest of the warm-up and concert went by without conversation. Everything went smoothly, even with my dad in charge, and we didn’t discuss anything until we got back home. “What happened?” I questioned my dad, hoping he had a simple explanation. “We’re in a parallel universe.” “Funny joke, dad. But I’m being serious! Why were you the conductor! And why did nobody find it strange that you were suddenly in charge?” “I just told you. One of the trombone players told me what happened. Apparently, he’s a scientist at the labs. He said they were doing experiments with time travel, but instead of time travel, they figured out how to go to parallel universes. One of the experiments with these universes got out of hand, and now here we are,” he said. “I knew I shouldn’t have done this sleepover,” Peyton complained. “Something weird happens whenever I’m with you guys.” “Do you have his phone number, honey?” My mom asked. “If he’s the one doing these experiments, maybe he can get us back.” “I already arranged a meeting. Today at 3 PM.” “Well? What do we do until then? We have about 2 hours!” I said. “Play games, duh,” Peyton said. “Well, I think we should go shopping. Just because it’s a parallel universe doesn’t mean they don’t have good deals!” said my mom. “Sounds like a plan,” my dad said, and we left for the nearest grocery store. When we got there and started shopping, I saw a familiar face. Zander, or, as his close friends called him, Z.
Weekly Creativity #168 | Flash Contest #35: Write a Story About You, but in a Parallel Universe where You Had a Different Life
Write a story about you, but in a parallel universe where you had a different life. What would happen if you went to a different school, had different parents, or lived somewhere else? Submit to the September Flash Contest here.
