égalitariste (watercolor) by Verona Hofer, 12; published in the November/December 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Diane Landolf Dear readers, I hope those of you in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now let’s all get ready for another kind of celebration! It’s our annual student reading, and everyone’s invited! On Saturday, December 2, at 11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern, Stone Soup is hosting a virtual reading by students in our Stone Soup Writing Workshops. Join our student authors—along with their friends, family, teachers, and the workshop instructors—as they read their favorite pieces aloud. The online event is free, but a reservation is required. To reserve your spot and find out more about the reading, click here. If you participated in one of our workshops in 2023, we’d love to have you participate in the reading. Please submit the piece you’d like to read via Submittable under the category “Annual Writing Workshop Reading” by November 30. The maximum reading time per author is five minutes. We can’t wait to hear your work! Registration for our 2024 workshops will open soon, so check back for information about course offerings and how to sign up. With an open heart and a very full stomach, Register for our Annual Reading Submit your work to our Annual Reading From Stone Soup November/December 2023 Within the Stars by Mia Atkinson, 11 Olive didn’t know how long she’d sat on her bed staring at the stars. They were so bright that night, shining like thousands of little suns in the sky. It brightened up the window next to her bed, its paper-white curtain fully open. Olive sighed, a sound like a balloon deflating. She felt like that. Ten years ago, Olive had sat on this very bed, holding her breath and silently praying to the stars as her husband took his last breaths from a fever. They were too poor to pay for a doctor to come to their house, and going there would just take too long. That was when she lost her husband. That was when she became no one. That was when she became just an old woman with frail hands. Just. Olive wiped away a tear, staring at the full sky. The wind through the open window tickled her cheek as she stared out at the stars. She imagined that they were reaching out to her, glowing brightly. Her husband was up there too, waving at her and telling her that she would be all right, even though they both knew she wouldn’t. Not without him… Click here to find out what happens next. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
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Saturday Newsletter: December 4, 2021
Winter Wonderland | iPhone 8 Elodie Weinzierl, 11 (Waban, MA), published in Stone Soup December 2021 A note from Caleb Fall 2021 Workshop Reading Don’t forget: Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they’ve written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here! Book Club Also on Saturday December 11, but at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern (the event will end before we begin the workshop reading), Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don’t miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author, and sign up, here! Happy December! Start the month off right by curling up with Anya Geist’s new book Born on the First of Two (you can read an excerpt here), now available for purchase in the Stone Soup store. I’m so excited to share with you the most recent development of another Stone Soup author, Abhi Sukhdial, whose timely novel Three Days Till EOC was the winner of our 2019 Book Contest. After Three Days Till EOC was honored by the Green Earth Book Awards, Abhi made a video in which he speaks passionately and candidly about the need for climate action, celebrates the impact of Stone Soup Magazine, encourages everyone to write from the heart, and promotes and reads from his novel Three Days Till EOC. As Abhi feels that finding Stone Soup was like finding “heaven,” we too could not feel more blessed to have worked with Abhi since he first began submitting to us as a fourth-grader, and we can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the future. Congratulations, Abhi! Now, I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of outstanding works of art from the December issue: Elodie Weinzierl’s Winter Wonderland, the issue’s cover image, and Sean Tenzin O’Connor’s “A Beautiful Wood.” Winter Wonderland is the perfect photograph to represent the December issue, as it features a snowy tree arched over a white hammock, inviting Stone Soup’s readers to relax amidst the wintery landscape of the issue’s content. “A Beautiful Wood,” meanwhile, is an ingenious representation of the December issue’s wintery landscape. In “A Beautiful Wood,” Sean—just five years old—leads us on a journey that ends “at the bottom,” in a place that “may seem that it’s not cold,” where the poem’s central image is revealed: “A Chord of Pine Trees in the Night.” The poem reminds me of Wallace Stevens’s “The Snow Man,” mainly in that I believe one must have “a mind of winter” to follow the thread of the poem and truly see with their own eyes the “Chord of Pine Trees in the Night” rather than just imagine them. So, this weekend I’d like you to create an artwork that celebrates the themes of winter as you understand them. This may be more of a literal interpretation, as in Elodie’s photograph, or it may be more figurative, as in Sean’s poem. Regardless, the artwork should embody winter. Try reading “The Snow Man” for further inspiration. As always, if you’re happy with what you’ve written or created, we would love for you to share and submit it to us via Submittable! Till next time, Other News Book Club On Saturday December 11, at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern, Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don’t miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author and sign up, here! Fall 2021 Workshop Reading Also on Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they’ve written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here! Highlights from the past week online Eleanor Dagan, 13, wrote a powerful poem about how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped long-standing traditions. From Stone Soup December 2021 A Beautiful Wood By Sean Tenzin O’Connor, 5 (Bishop, CA) In the light of the lamp Many rocks Sitting aside Resting in place In the dark The shadows cast Lights and lamps Throughout the night Hanging down Towards the book The poems written With many hooks Continue reading “A Beautiful Wood” here… Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
Saturday Newsletter: November 27, 2021
A Beautiful Abundance of Birds | Sophia Swanson, 11 (Novato, CA), published in Stone Soup November 2021 A note from Emma I’m so excited that in just a few days, Anya Geist’s novel, Born on the First of Two, which I selected as “editor’s choice” in our 2020 Book Contest, will be published! You can preorder it here, and you’ll be able to read the first few chapters in our December issue. As I read through the entries for last year’s contest, I knew I was in trouble. The pandemic has been a grim season for our country and the world, but those early lockdowns clearly created a pocket of time and space for so many of you to sit and work on a sustained creative project. I immediately knew I couldn’t pick just one winner and even choosing the two was incredibly difficult. But reading Anya’s novel simply sucked me into another world. It literally takes place in another world—a fantastical one with a land in the clouds, mysterious prophecies, special powers, and time travel—but its story also is a world. I was so invested in the characters that I remember spending some nights awake with my then-infant daughter, poring over my iPad to find out what was going to happen next. It is a gripping and moving fantasy adventure novel that I am so thrilled to share with you all. Please support Stone Soup and Anya by buying her wonderful book! From the many contributions she’s made to the magazine, to her work with us as an intern (which included co-teaching a summer workshop!), and finally, her book, Anya has been an integral part of the Stone Soup family and truly a valuable member of our team. Anya, we are so proud of everything you have accomplished; it has been a pleasure seeing you grow and progress as a writer, artist, thinker, and so much more! Lastly, I’d like to provide a second, gentle reminder that our annual open house is on Tuesday, November 30 at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST. Everyone on our team will be sharing a few words, and we hope to hear from many of you about what Stone Soup has meant to you. We look forward to seeing you! I hope you had a warm, festive Thanksgiving holiday. Emma Other News Book Club On Saturday December 11, at 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern, Book Club will be hosting Lucy Worsley, author of The Austen Girls. Don’t miss out on a terrific opportunity to speak with a published author and sign up, here! Fall 2021 Workshop Reading Also on Saturday December 11, at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern, we will be hosting our end of term event in which our students read aloud some of the incredible work they’ve written this fall. Please come and support our students by signing up, here! Highlights from the past week online Special Features Sabrina Guo introduced the Crossing Borders Pen-Pal Program, Direct Aid for Migrants via El Pueblo Nola, the establishment of Girl Pride Chapters like Girl Pride Samburu, the Ambassadors Scholarship Program, which supports girl’s scholarly endeavors, and asked that we join her foundation—Girl Pride International—in their next endeavors, all in conjunction with the Stone Soup Refugee Project! From Stone Soup November 2021 China is Left Behind By Alisa Zou, 12 (Concord, MA) I can’t stop myself From looking out there. Like something is Controlling my eyes, Pulling my head towards The airplane window Again and again Seeing America Below us. Ladies and gentlemen, Please go back to your seats and Fasten your safety belts. Thank you. Continue reading here… Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
