People of the Crow, a tale of the fantastic

Posted: June 23rd, 2010, Author: admin

Angela’s story takes place in a very specific place: Cranford, New Jersey. And yet, it not exactly Cranford. Things happen in this story that don’t take place in Cranford – or any place on earth. Things happen in this story that only happen in imagination.

New York Times Bestseller Children’s Books List – May 2, 2010

Posted: May 5th, 2010, Author: admin

So many writers are also voracious readers. What follows is a list of the New York Times bestselling children’s books. If you are aged 13 or under we would love to know what you think of these books. If you have read one of them please review the book in the comment field, below. If you have never submitted comments on a website before and need help, then please ask a parent, older brother or sister, or your teacher to help you.

Hardcover Chapter Books:

: 1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic, $17.99) In a dystopian future, a girl fights for survival on live TV. (Ages 12 and up.)
: 2. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic, $17.99.) The protagonist of “The Hunger Games” returns. (Ages 12 and up)
: 3. Rules of Attraction, by Simone Elkeles. (Walker, $16.99.) A teenager with gang ties seeks safety at the home of a professor and develops strong feelings for the man’s daughter. (Ages 14 and up)
: 4. Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, written and illustrated by Lincoln Price. (Harper/Harper Collins, $12.99) Where Nate goes, trouble is never far behind. (Ages 8 to 12)
: 5. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan. (Dutton/Penguin, $17.99.) Two boys with the same name join forces in a reality possible only in musical theater. (Ages 14 and up)
: 6. Fallen, by Lauren Kate. (Delacorte, $17.99) Thwarted love among misfits at boarding school. (Ages 12 and up)
: 7. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. (Razorbill, $16.99) Before she commits suicide a girl sends explanatory recordings to 13 people. (Ages 14 and up)
: 8.Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver. (Harper/HarperCollins, $17.99) Last kisses, death and second chances await a teenager on fateful Friday. (Ages 14 and up)
: 9. The Time Pirate, by Ted Bell. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $17.99) The time traveler Nick McIver fights Nazis and helps George Washington. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 10. Sweet Little Lies, by Lauren Conrad. (Harper/HarperCollins, $17.99) the heroines of “L.A. Candy” in a new Hollywood story. (ages 14 and up)

Paperback Books:

: 1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. (Knopf, $11.99) A girl saves books from Nazi burning Excerpt. (ages 14 and up)
: 2. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman. (Speak/Penguin, $8.99.) A young cellist falls into a coma after she suffers an accident. (Ages 14 and up)
: 3. Movers and Fakers, by Lisi Harrison. (Little. Brown, $9.99.) A boarding school with a “no losers” policy. (Ages 14 and up)
: 4. L.A. Candy, by Lauren Conrad. (HarperCollins, $9.99) Exctement in TV land. (Ages 14 and up)
: 5. Three Cups of Tea: Young Readers Edition, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. (Puffin, $8.99) A former climber builds schools in Pakistani and Afghan villages. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Illustrated by Ellen Forney. (Little, Brown, $8.99) A young boy leaves his reservation for an all-white school. (Ages 12 and up)
: 7. Letters to God, by Patrick Doughtie and John Perry. (Zondervan, $14.99) A movie tie-in about a boy with terminal cancer. (Ages 14 and up)
: 8. Classy, by Derek Blasberg. (Razorbill, $16.99) Advice on how to be a lady in fashion, friendship and love. (Ages 12 and up)
: 9. Savvy, by Ingrid Law. (Puffin, $7.99) Mibs is about to turn 13, the age at which supernatural talents are conferred on members of her family. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 10. The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt. Illustrated by David Small. (Atheneum, $7.99) In a tough neighborhood, a dog and cat form a family. (Ages 9 to 12)

Series Books:

: 1. Percy Jackson & the Olympians, by Rick Riordan. (Disney-Hyperion, hardcover and paper) Battling mythological monsters. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. (Abrams, hardcover only) The travails of adolescence, in cartoons. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 3. The Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyer. (Megan Tingley/Little, Brown, hardcover and paper) Vampires and werewolves in school. (Ages 12 and up)
: 4. The 39 Clues, by various authors. (Scholastic, hardcover only) A brother and sister travel the world in search of the key to their family’s power. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 5. How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell. (Little, Brown, hardcover and paper) A smart young Viking named Hiccup and his pet. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 6. Darkest Powers, by Kelley Armstrong. (Harper/HarperCollins, hardcover and paper) A genetically altered girl struggles with the demands of adolescence. (Ages 14 and up).
: 7. Maximum Ride, by James Patterson. (Little, Brown, hardcover and paper) winged children try to save the world. (Ages 10 and up)
: 8. Warriors, by Erin Hunter. (HarperCollins, hardcover and paper) four clans of cat warriors aspire to meet up with the Star Clan. (Ages 10 to 14)
: 9. Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull. (Shadow Mountain/Aladdin, hardcover and paperback) Evil is afoot in a sanctuary for magical creatures. (Ages 9 to 12)
: 10. House of Night, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. (St. Martin’s, hardcover and paper) Vampires in school. (Ages 14 and up)

Picture Books:

: 1. Lego Star Wars, by Simon Beecroft. (DK, $21.99.) An annotated visual dictionary (Ages 7 and up)
: 2. Poet Extraordinaire!, by Jane O’Connor. Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. (HarperCollins, $12.99) It’s the season when Fancy Nancy’s fancy turns to rhyme. (Ages 4-8)
: 3. The Lion and the Mouse, illustrated by Jerry Pinkey. (Little, Brown, $16.99) A fable of reciprocal kindness, redrawn. (Ages 4-8)
: 4. My Garden, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes. (Greenwillow/HarperCollins, $17.99). A little girl’s garden yields a bounty of magical variety. (Ages 4-8)
: 5. The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood. Illustrated by Renata Liwska. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $12.95) Animal friends experience the surprisingly numerous shades of quiet. (Ages 3-5)
: 6. GALLOP!, written and illustrated by Peter Brown. (Workman, $12.95). Animals seem to move when you flip the page. (Ages 4-8)
: 7. The Curious Garden, written and illustrated by Peter Brown. (Little, Brown, $16.99) A boy named Liam nurtures a straggly garden to vivid fruition. (Ages 4-8)
: 8. WADDLE!, written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder. (Workman, $12.95) Animals in motion, with color. (Ages 4-8)
: 9. SKIPPYJON JONES, LOST IN SPICE, written and illustrated by Judy Schachner. (Dutton, $16.99). The peppery red planet captures a cat’s fancy. (Ages 4-8)
: 10. LMNO Peas, by Keith Baker. (Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster, $16.99) A sort of “What Color is Your Parachute?” for very young legumes. (Ages 4-8)

Two Stories about Friends

Posted: April 1st, 2010, Author: admin

Two stories. Short. Simple. Each story about two friends. In one, two boys walk along the beach and look at a starfish. In the other, two boys shoot off fireworks on a vacant lot. Each of these very short stories is, in its own way, complex. Not only do the stories provide a vivid picture of where they take place, but they also each reveal a great deal about the characters, their relationship to each other, and their relationship to the world.

Journal Times Article about Stone Soup Teen Author

Posted: February 26th, 2010, Author: admin

The Racine, Wisconsin, Journal Times ran an article about Dylan Saunder’s story in the January/February issue of Stone Soup. Stone Soup is one of the few outlets for young teens to be published. The entire story from the Journal Times is reproduced, below:

Stone Soup Archive

Posted: January 11th, 2010, Author: admin

The Stone Soup archive has hundreds of stories, poems, and book reviews. The purpose of the online archive is to offer free resources for students, parents, and teachers who are interested in writing by kids. One feature that I would like to call your attention to is that the 322 stories published on the site can be sorted by subject. By selecting the subject you can create your own anthology so you can read stories that are on subjects that interest you.

The subject selection is also useful for teachers of creative writing. Creative writing assignments are often thematic. For every theme you will find that Stone Soup writers have taken very different approaches. This can help you develop projects for your own classroom. More simply, you can send your students to our web site for inspiration.

Help us get our forums going!

Posted: December 18th, 2009, Author: admin

We have just put up three forums for teachers and parents. Getting forums started is the hard part. You can help us by visiting the forums and making those all important first posts. Thank you.

Stone Soup illustrator in the news

Posted: December 17th, 2009, Author: admin

Getting published in Stone Soup can be a terrific motivational tool. Because of its reputation for quality, publication in Stone Soup is often newsworthy. Here is a recent article published in the Greater Media Newspapersof Middlesex, Mounmouth and Ocean Counties, New Jersey about the publication of Athena Gerasoulis’s artwork in the November/December 2009 issue of Stone Soup.

Our best December, ever!

Posted: December 17th, 2009, Author: admin

All of us at Stone Soup would like to thank all of you for making this the best holiday season at Stone Soup, ever! The best in 37 years! Our ads in the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, Atlantic, Harpers, and the New York Review of Books are all doing better than ever before and it seems that you all like our redesigned website (launched mid-November). Last year’s sales had been poor and this year had been poor up to the holiday season. Then, suddenly, it was as if the sun came out from behind the clouds after a long winter storm. From sales being down compared with last year they are now up for the year! I can’t tell you how good that has been for our morale. The phones are ringing and the web orders are coming in as never before. Thank you!

If you are still thinking about a Christmas gift, it is never too late for Stone Soup. We are mailing gift announcements every day up until Christmas Eve. And if you are like me, and often wake up just about Christmas time to the awful realization that one has waited too long and there is no way to get a gift in time, just order a subscription and tell your young friend that you have done so. Stone Soup is the perfect gift for budding writers. It offers kids great pleasure throughout the year and is that rare gift that helps kids grow moreÂ expressive and creative.

We are looking for bloggers

Posted: December 7th, 2009, Author: admin

We are looking for teachers of creative writing to maintain a blog at the Stone Soup website. You will have your own separate blog, but located at our site. The web address will be yourname.stonesoup.com. We are aiming to get the first blogs up around the first of the year. We’d like you to write about what you do when you teach creative writing.Â We at Stone Soup believe in the usefulness of using writing by children in at least some part of the creative writing program, we are looking for teachers who share this philosophy.

Homeschooling Creative Writing Curriculum

Posted: December 2nd, 2009, Author: admin

Stone Soup is tailor made for parents who home school. One of the great benefits of homeschooling is individualized instruction. Rather than a one-size-fits-all creative writing curriculum, you can tailor lessons for your child. In this way, you build on your child’s strengths. But the disadvantage of working with one, or at most a few children at a time, is that instruction necessarily takes place isolated from other children. In the best classroom settings children working together on the same or similar projects inspire each other.