Author Archive - Stone Soup

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Interview and Links for Author Renée Ahdieh

Post Published July 22, 2016 by William Rubel

A strong interview with Renée Ahdieh. The interview focus is on her writing process. • Writes books based on the theme of "choice and consequence" with her goal being to "explore the gray area ...
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Contests for Young Composers

Post Published July 21, 2016 by William Rubel

Most of these contests are open to children from primary and middle school -- the primary age range of Stone Soup's readers. As most of these contests also post videos of contest winners you can also...
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Writing Activity: Bringing Animal Characters Alive Through Gesture

Post Published July 21, 2016 by William Rubel

Taking as inspiration the world of puppeteers for the play "War Horse" this activity teaches students how to use gesture to make animal characters more realistic.
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Introduction to Child Composers

Post Published July 21, 2016 by William Rubel

One of the most extraordinary things about the world we live in today is that is possible for people who would have had no way to be heard or discovered to find a large audience.
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Two Kids Recite Poems about Life: From a TedX Youth Talk

Post Published July 21, 2016 by William Rubel

Poetry is meant to be recited. Recited poetry has its own cadence, one that is a little different from spoken English. These two children recite poems that each, in their own way, speak to the central...
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Introduction to Alma Deutscher, Young British Composer

Post Published July 20, 2016 by William Rubel

British Composer, Alma Deutscher (born 2005) is one of the many young composers who are invariably compared by TV interviewers with Mozart, the composer who lived a couple hundred years ago.
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Improvisations, “Bee,” and a Sonata by Alma Deutscher, young British Composer

Post Published July 20, 2016 by William Rubel

Inspiring! This young composer creates a piece of music based on three notes pulled form a hat . Use this idea -- words rather than notes -- as a model for a writing project.
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Children’s Art: Coptic Christian Images from Ethiopia

Post Published June 10, 2016 by William Rubel

I purchased these paintings from Semachw Messfn in Ethiopia in 2004. Sumachaw was ten years old. He is a Coptic Christian. This is an ancient branch of Christianity.
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Using the Young Adult Author Resource Pages

Post Published June 10, 2016 by William Rubel

Writers are readers. The purpose of the Young Adult Author Resource Pages is to bring young writers closer to their favorite authors. Through social media and recorded interviews many authors offer fa...
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Young Composer: Brandon Thibodeau

Post Published June 8, 2016 by William Rubel

Brandon Thibodeau is a young American composer. This award winning Tango titled, A Collaborative Conversation, was composed by Brandon Thibodeau in 2014 when he was twelve.
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Madeleine L’Engle Talks about Letting the Book Write Itself

Post Published June 8, 2016 by William Rubel

Many authors talk about the precision with which they plot out their books, taking pride in being in full control of the process. Other authors, Madeleine L'Engle included, acknowledge and even embrac...
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Children’s Art: Japanese Woodblocks Ages 12 to 15

Post Published June 8, 2016 by William Rubel

This extraordinary selection of woodcuts is from a single school in Japan. We are not certain when they were made. We have had them for more than thirty years. Our guess is they date from the 1970s.
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Advice for Writers: Interviews with Rick Riordan

Post Published June 6, 2016 by William Rubel

Reading is one of the best preparations for writing. We are fortunate that through the internet it is possible to keep in touch with living authors through their blogs, twitter feeds, and their websit...
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Kioni “Popcorn” Marshall a Sixth-Grade Poet from the Bronx, New York

Post Published May 23, 2016 by William Rubel

This is a well produced nine-minute video features the poetry of the sixth-grade poet Kioni Marshal from Bronx, New York. Kioni reads poems and talks about poetry in this December, 2012 video.
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