Skipping Stones Multicultural Literary Magazine

12/24/2024

Dear Friends
Skipping Stones sends you all our best wishes on this Holiday Season and Winter Celebrations of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa!
May Peace Dwell in Everyone's Heart and Everywhere!
Arun and all of our Skipping Stones Family

12/17/2024

Dear friends,
We are pleased to tell you that our special issue focusing exclusively on Gaza is now on our website.

Seattle-based educators Lauren Marshall and D’vorah Kost, as guest editors, along with poet and educator Merna Hecht and executive editor Arun Toké, we have worked tirelessly these last two months to compile and organize this beautiful and powerful collection of material, now available for the world to read! The collection features works of art, poetry, short story and song lyrics by talented youth artists from Gaza—many of whom are now living in Egypt or other places because of the destructive war that drags on, now in its 15th month, killing over 46,000 people—44,786 Palestinians and 1,706 Israelis—and injuring over a hundred thousand. Most of the casualties have been innocent children and women.

From Gaza to The World: Art & Writing by Palestinian Youth.


You can read it and download a PDF here:

https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/pdf-reader-versions/january-2025-issue-read-online-with-our-pdf-viewer/

May peace prevail soon in the region and all people live in peace!

Skipping Stones staff

09/20/2024

Happy International Day of Peace!
"PEACE IS THE PATH WE TAKE FOR BRINGING GROWTH AND PROSPERITY TO THE SOCIETY." —E.A. DEBORAH, age 13, NIGERIA (from VOL. 36, NO. 1, SKIPPING STONES)

Skipping Stones will be at the International Day of Peace community event on Saturday, Sept. 21st, from 11 am to 3 pm. You are all invited to come and say hello, and pick up a free copy of Skipping Stones back issues while the supplies last.

May there be peace and harmony between all nations, between followers of different religions, speakers of various languages, between people of diverse cultures and ethnicities, and also between human being and nature—with its countless species."

08/21/2024

We invite you to read our latest Youth Honor Award Winners' creative entries on our website for free!

We celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, and facilitate a meaningful, global exchange of ideas and experiences among creative writers ages 9 to 18.

08/21/2024

We have published a special online feature this afternoon, with all the 2024 Youth Honor award Winners. Visit www.Skippingstones.org to read these amazing winning entries for free. And, you can also read our latest issue—Autumn 2024— in its entirety (for no charge, as always), on our website!

We celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, and facilitate a meaningful, global exchange of ideas and experiences among creative writers ages 9 to 18.

08/02/2024

Announcing the 2024 Youth Awards Program Winners!

We wanted to encourage everyone for all the great entries they had sent in, and so this year we decided to have 20 joint winners!

We received so many worthy entries from so many of you that we have added four extra pages to the 2024 Awards Issue! Also, we’ll publish many more Noteworthy Entries on this website and in the next issue (Vol. 37, issue 1). The Awards Issue is with the printers at present and will be ready in a few weeks. Everyone who entered the youth awards program will get a printed copy (international entrants will get digital copies).

Hearty congratulations to all the winners!

** Aayuv Reddy, age 8, New Jersey & Kava Jain, age 10, New York.
** Eden You, age 11, New York & Anthony Wei, age 11, New York.
** Arianna Shaprow Crain, age 13, Nevada & Jessie Li, grade 6, B.C., Canada.
** Benjamin Kwack, age 12 & Jaslene Kwack, age 14, Illinois.
** Amelia Chyu, age 15, South Korea & Autumn Maley, grade 9, New York
** Jack Aronian, age 14, & Laurel Aronian, age 17, Connecticut.
** Zeran Li, age 16, New York & Steven Wang, age 17, New York.
** Mahilan Guha, age 17, grade 11, Maryland & Aditi Nair, age 16, Virginia.
** Jonathan Junkins, age 17, Oregon & Emily Maremont, age 17, California.
** Pooja Verma, grade 11, California & Yifei Kevin Niu, age 17, Massachusetts.

06/20/2024

Skipping Stones Recommends 28 Books as the Summer Reading Season Begins!

06/20/2024

Summer Solstice Greetings!
As the summer reading season begins, we are pleased to announce our 2024 Honors List—exceptional multicultural and nature books for all ages! This year, we recommend 26 books—picture books, chapter books, novels and non-fiction—as well as two teaching resources.
Hearty Congratulations to all the creators of these titles! Book reviews will be uploaded on www.skippingstones.org in a matter of weeks.

06/19/2024

The 2024 Skipping Stones Book Awards will be announced very soon. We expect the 2024 Honors List of exceptional multicultural and nature books will be announced on our website before this Friday—June 21st.

06/05/2024

Greetings! We wish you all a very happy World Environment Day, being observed today (5 June 2024) around the world with the theme of Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience.

World Environment Day is one of the biggest international day for remembering our relationship to the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach (similar to the Earth Day that has been observed in the United States since 22 April 1970). It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

Continue reading this editorial and accompanying photoessay by Arun N. Toké on https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/2024/06/05/world-environment-day-june-5/

04/24/2024

Want to Enter the 2024 Youth Honor Awards? Please note that the entries are due by May 5th!
Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Ideas for Multicultural/Diversity Submission:
What does diversity mean to you? Your race or religion, culture, ethnicity or country you come from, the language your family speaks at home, your family’s economic background, your abilities or disabilities, the color of your skin, sexual orientation… Do you belong to a privileged group? Were your adopted? Are you bicultural or biracial? Why/how to learn multiple languages? How has your culture or diversity challenged you or helped you in preparing for your future or made you who you are? What lessons did you learn in an extended trip to a country or region? How can our diversity help us become more sustainable, livable, beautiful, or appreciative? How to promote peace in a place? You can even submit a photo/art essay showing diversity and/or beauty of a culture or place, or a group of people…
If You Want to Enter a Nature/Ecology Submission:
Share an experience in nature, hiking or camping trip that brought you closer to nature. Think of activities that helped you learn about the beauty of nature and natural systems; biology/ecology of an area. What can we learn from weeds or trees? Send photos or art pieces (or an illustrated essay) that show the beauty and/or intricacy of nature, ecology of an area, etc. How do you help protect an ecosystem, a community, or a part of the planet?
Bilingual (Non-English writings with an English translation are equally welcome! You may choose to highlight the work of your youth organization or tell us about a group project you participated in. Using the entry guidelines, tell us how your work to promote peace, appreciate and/or preserve nature, enrich a community, its members and/or the lives of underprivileged people in your community.

Youth Honors Awards Announcing the 2024 Youth Awards Program 2024 Youth Honor Awards on Multicultural & Nature Awareness Traditions & Celebrations • Diversity & Tolerance • Dreams & Visions • International/Intercultural Experiences • Family & Society • Nature & Ecology • Youth Activism ....

04/19/2024

Celebrating Earth Day! Nana Jean's column Celebrating Earth Day! Hugging an Evergreen Tree on a hike in Central Oregon. Photo: Mel Bankoff, Oregon. Earth Day Greetings! As I bicycled to work this cool, breezy spring morning in the Pacific Northwest, I admired the many new shoots reaching for the sun...

04/19/2024

Happy Earth Day!
To All Earthlings!

Celebrating Earth Day! Nana Jean's column Celebrating Earth Day! Hugging an Evergreen Tree on a hike in Central Oregon. Photo: Mel Bankoff, Oregon. Earth Day Greetings! As I bicycled to work this cool, breezy spring morning in the Pacific Northwest, I admired the many new shoots reaching for the sun...

04/19/2024

The brutal war against Ukraine sadly has entered its third year. It has brought much destruction and sorrow to the people of Ukraine. Countless Ukrainian children have lost their homes, have difficulties in accessing education, health care and even basic necessities such as drinking water. Bomb shelters and cellars have replaced their rooms, metro benches have become their beds, and air raid sirens on a daily basis drone instead of school bells.

The Central Southern city of Zaporizhzhia is under constant artillery shelling and aerial bombing. But the Center for Children’s and Youth Creativity in the city continues to operate, and attempts to create a safe space to safeguard the children’s childhood. Skipping Stones has recently published a collection of many artistic works by children in Zaporizhzhia, such as the one below. "Lord of the Forest" by Danylo Yerokhin, age 16.
https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/2024/04/16/art-in-the-time-of-war-the-children-of-zaporizhia/

02/24/2024

Hi Friends,
Black History Month and Women's History Month Greetings!
Our Spring 2024 issue is now at the printers. We will be sending out the issue to you—our contributors and subscribers—when ready (in early March). You can also order the issue on our website.
Arun Toké, Editor

02/17/2024

To observe the annual Black History Month, we are pleased to present Resilience, a poem by Arianna Shaprow Crain, age 12, a seventh grader in Nevada. Arianna was interviewed this morning and was asked to read her poem by KTNV News, on their ‘Good Morning Las Vegas’ show. Resilience will also be published in our upcoming Spring 2024 issue (Mar. – Aug. 2024). You can also download the poem on skippingstones.org

Arianna writes: “'Resilience' explores the African Diaspora and chronicles the struggles of the vibrant, defiant members of my family. In the midst of our tragedies, my ancestors were able to find peace and navigate the rough terrain that lie ahead. They were slaves in Holly Springs, Mississipi. After the Emancipation Proclamation, they migrated to Chicago for more opportunities. In Chicago, they had to endure racism and segregation, which negatively impacted their employment. My great grandmother became a maid at a hotel and raised 13 children. She had to endure an endless cycle of poverty. Much of our history was lost, because we were stolen from our homeland. Even though our cultural identities were dismantled, my ancestors found comfort in music, stories, and our love for one another. We are resilient, and we are survivors. I know that I am a survivor, because I am here to tell you my story."