Stone Soup (magazine)

Stone Soup
Categories Literary magazine
Juvenilia
Frequency Bi-monthly
First issue 1973
Language English
Website http://www.stonesoup.com/

Stone Soup is a literary magazine for children that publishes writing and art created by children from all over the world.[1] The magazine was founded in 1973 by college students at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Their purpose was to “encourage youngsters to use writing as a way to talk about their lives.”[2] They continue to run the publication today from their offices in Santa Cruz, California.[3] Booklist described Stone Soup’s editorial philosophy as “children can meet the highest standard of literature and art.” [4]

Description

Most of Stone Soup's readership lives in the US or Canada, but subscribers come from 40 different countries, according to the editors. The magazine is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November.[5] Each issue of Stone Soup is 48 pages and contains 10 to 15 written selections by children, including stories, poems and book reviews by primarily 8 to 13-year-old contributors. Artists aged 13 or under illustrate every cover and story. Photos of the authors and illustrators accompany their work. Additionally, issues include letters from readers in a section called “The Mailbox,” as well as an editor’s note. The Children’s Art Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, publishes the magazine.

Children’s written stories and poems can be either fiction or non-fiction, and editor Gerry Mandel told The Washington Times she searches out work “from the heart” that “combines both beautiful writing and original ideas.” [6]

Published authors include an 11-year-old girl who wrote about her family coming together after her mother’s death from breast cancer;[7] a 10-year-old girl whose family survived a hurricane;[8] a 13-year-old boy who remembered how his childhood fort was destroyed by a bulldozer and new construction;[9] and an 11-year-old boy who created an original fiction piece about a boy waking up to find his family has turned into pigs.[10]

In 1989, Stone Soup’s editors published an issue focusing solely on the art, stories and photographs created by Navajo children growing up on an Indian reservation.[11] “We publish work by kids who, like adult writers, ... have things to say.” Mandel said to Curriculum Administrator. [12]

Stone Soup is available through subscription and at libraries and bookstores. The magazine costs $37 for a year's subscription and $6.50 for a single copy.

References

  1. ↑ "A new magazine and an old friend". Arizona Republic. 9/3/93. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ↑ "Children's magazine celebrates 20th year". San Jose Mercury News. 5/93. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Stone Soup turns 25". Booklist. 10/99. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Writing stories improves children's prose". Washington Times. 3/5/99. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ↑ "Not growing old". Cleveland Press. 1993-05-23.
  8. ↑ "Magazines". Wilson Library Bulletin. 11/93. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ↑ "Teen's writings will be published". Syracuse Herald-Journal. 12/93. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑ "From The Bookshelf". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2007-01-13.
  11. ↑ "Not growing old". Cleveland Press. 1993-05-23.
  12. ↑ "Stone Soup Magazine: The New Yorker of the 8-13 set". Curriculum Administrator. 03/98. Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links