Welcome to Your Story Soup!

What (who) is waiting at the bottom of the stairs? Let's find out! 

Starting Monday, May 4, we'll present Scene One of MAX DOWNSTAIRS, a story we've started and will need your help to finish. You'll have two days to give us your ideas for what should happen to Max, Arty, and Keisha in Scene Two. 

Here's where the story starts:

"Whose turn is it to feed Max?" Mom asked when Arty and Keisha walked in from the backyard. 

They pointed at each other. Nobody liked feeding Max, because of the disgusto factor.

"Both of you do it," Mom said. "It'll go faster. Don't be down there chatting with him all night--I've got a special supper cooking."

Keisha fetched the mop and a pail of soapy water.

Arty went outside to fill a feed bucket with special-order Extra Fine Troll Slop . . . 

Come back Monday for the rest of the scene, and the first set of questions for Scene Two!

You Supply the Ingredients. We'll Cook Up the Story!

Have you ever read the story (any version) of Stone Soup? In it, the main character wants to make a delicious soup but has only one ingredient, a stone, to use as flavoring. Little by little, people step forward and bring carrots and celery and tomatoes and potatoes and all sorts of foods that, when combined, make a delicious soup that everyone shares.

That's what we're doing here. We will start a story for you, then ask you to supply the ingredients (details) for each new chapter. We'll take your suggestions, incorporate them into the story soup, and see where this new tale takes us!

And who are we to do this? We are all published authors with even more tales to tell. We are:

ELLEN BOORAEM: Author of three popular middle-grade fantasies: The Unnameables, Small Persons with Wings, and Texting the Underworld. Her fourth fantasy, River Magic, is coming out in April 2021. Ellen's favorite soup is haddock chowder.

JODY FELDMAN: Award-winning author of The Gollywhopper Games series, The Seventh Level, and other books in the works. Her favorite soup is her own concoction of tomato vegetable or Paul Prudhomme's Dead of Winter Soup or chicken tortilla or onion soup or really almost all soups.

STACY NYIKOS: Author of many mischievous picture books for children, including Waggers, Toby, and a middle grade novel, Dragon Wishes. Her favorite soup is tomato basil. It's Mmmm...good!

BARRIE SUMMY: Middle-grade mystery author of the humorous I So Don't Do mystery series starring Sherry (short for Sherlock) Holmes and the eerie The Disappearance of Emily H. Her favorite soup is Garbage Soup. Seriously! It's a type of potato soup.

We're starting our first story VERY soon. And we'll give you all the details you need to play along.
Hope you'll join us!