Jan Eliot's funny and irreverent Stone Soup follows the saga of an extended, blended family, starring two working-mom sisters living just across the fence from each other. Val and Joan share life with their opinionated mother, a middle-school diva and 10-year-old tomboy, a reclusive teenage boy, a wild preschooler and his new baby sister...and of course Wally, the ultimate nice guy who steps into his stepdad shoes with grace amid the chaos. Working-parent hassles, pre-school tantrums, middle-school angst, love and the single mom... it's all here in Stone Soup.
© Jan Eliot - All Rights Reserved.
Starslip by Kris Straub
Strange Brew by John Deering
Comments (39) (Please sign in to comment)
Night-Gaunt49 said, 4 months ago
It may be simple to you but not Holly who feels overwhelmed.
Locura said, 4 months ago
Time to learn how to do an outline first. once you have the basics, the rest is easy to fill in.
crystalwizard said, 4 months ago
I never understood the reason behind term papers. I still don’t. How many real world jobs can you think of that require you to do research and write up papers? Of all the people reading this comic, how many have to do research and write up papers at least once a year for their job?
JDsg said, 4 months ago
I’ve done a number of papers for businesses over the years. Not annually, but often enough. And I know at least one other woman who does so too. Technical writers would do this all the time.
Jenn said, 4 months ago
After the first two I’d ever written, it WAS simple. Because you know what to expect, and you research the topic. You’re a teenager, Holly. You should know this by now.
Dean said, 4 months ago
@crystalwizard
Filing your taxes involves some research and getting your forms together etc. So some procrastinators always wait for the last day as Holly did.
jenbrown1017 said, 4 months ago
Actually the teacher said 10 pages. I just did a 3,000 word assessment for a Master’s course and it was only 8 pages. 10 pages for middle school is quite long!
biglar155 said, 4 months ago
Ah, the battle cry of youth: “When am I ever going to use this?”
It doesn’t matter. Whether you are 13 or 30, educate yourself for the sake of educating yourself. The brain, like a muscle, needs to be exercised to become strong.
edinbaltimore said, 4 months ago
Intro: Hello Body: This is my paper. Conclusion: This was my term paper. Bibliography: I read a book once.
Saskfan said, 4 months ago
@crystalwizard
I don’t have have to write research papers, but at my former job in an arts facility, when the instructors were asked to submit written requests for new equipment, the photography instructor produced a lovely piece of research explaining what his program needed, why it needed it, and exactly what to purchase, where to find it, and how much it cost; plus he noted why it was better to spend slightly more to buy slightly more than the basic model of the digital projector he needed. Meanwhile, the drawing instructor just wrote down “Drawing benches.” Guess which instructor was a University teacher (NOT a full professor), and which was a former federal civil servant? :)
lightenup
said, 4 months ago
Oh, don’t be dramatic, Holly.
@crystalwizard – My husband is in IT and although his papers aren’t 10 pages long, he does do research (lots of it, since IT changes so much) and writes about it. Anyone who is a consultant or in management or anything technical needs to know how to research and write.
Monkeyhead said, 4 months ago
All I keep thinking is that 10 pages for a middle school paper is quiet a lot. At least 3 of the thesis’ that I’ve proofread for friends were all under 12 pages.
Jon Allingham said, 4 months ago
Many schools expect kids to be able to write papers like this after doing 1-2 pagers. If teachers want the kids to really learn they break the problem down to topic selection, rough outline, detailed outline, rough draft, final draft and really teach the kids how to approach it methodically. While not everyone writes that way, for most people, learning how to approach it with baby steps instead of “sit down and write 10 pages” will get you something.
Rx71Wm29 said, 4 months ago
Holly was probably asleep when Ms. Wingit explained the process of writing a paper. As to why write papers in school at all, the obvious answer to to keep you busy and try to keep you out of trouble! The same reason some students have after school activities.
david_42 said, 4 months ago
@crystalwizard
I did them every few months for almost 40 years. Business plans, technical briefs, product evaluations, the names change, but the structure and methods are much the same. It’s a way of thinking about a subject.