Inspiration Kelly Bennett Inspiration Kelly Bennett

MAX said "YES!" to Children's Choices

What inspires: Children choosing to read and what!Maybe because his namesake starred in the story, my son Max chose WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE for bedtime reading so many times we can all recite it by heart... Maurice Sendak, the author/illustrator/creator responsible for that story and for bringing to light the truth of good story--that good doesn't mean "goody-good"-but rather means honest, true, sometimes messy and naughty and irreverent, died today, at age 83, after suffering a stroke.

A 'Wild Rumpus' with Maurice Sendak

Fitting that the Children's Choice Awards honorees were anything but "goody-goods."  SE Hinton, author of THE OUTSIDERS, was there. So was Jake Gantos-- convicted felon whose not ashamed to write or talk about it--who said he literally picked a "life-changing" copy of THE OUTSIDERS up off the street.. Man of the evening was another dark horse:  DIARY OF A WHIMPY KID'S creator Jeff Kinney, he made a point of saying how 4 years ago he was unknown and unpublished--definitely not "Whimpy" now! (Surely Sendak was there in spirit, cheering with the lot of them.)

"This year’s Impact Award went to Justin Tuck, defensive end for the New York Giants, for his contributions to children's literacy. Tuck and his wife founded an organization called R.U.S.H. for Literacy, which encourages children to Read, Understand, Succeed and Hope. Tuck recalled how hard his parents worked to put food on the table for the family, and how as a child he never got to travel anywhere. “My mom always told me, ‘You want to go somewhere, pick up a book.’ ”--excerpted from Publisher's Weekly

 

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Happy Birthday to the YA that Started it All—!

What Inspires: A Great Story with a Happy Ever After... S.E. Hinton, “Susie” to those who know her, was a student in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Will Rodgers High School when she wrote The Outsiders, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Wikipedia  says, “The story was based on a friend of Hinton's who was jumped for being a "Greaser," which upset her so much she went home that day and started writing the book.”

Hinton was 15 when she started writing the book, 16 when she finished. According to Tulsa lore or my recollection of Hinton’s story, she either showed the manuscript to her teacher who sent it to an agent friend, or to a friend’s mom who was an agent or had a friend who was an agent, or? However it came about, Hinton was a freshman at Tulsa University when The Outsiders was published. Wikipedia maintains “Hinton was 18”, but I don’t think that’s true. I recall her telling the audience at a Tulsa Library event that she wasn’t yet 18 when the book came out so she had to have an adult companion accompany her to New York for publicity events (Maybe her sister?)

Here’s what I know is true--Our six degrees of separation connection:

  • I lived in Tulsa, too.
  • “Susie” used to ride horses with my next door neighbor, Nancy.
  • She frequented a restaurant I worked at while struggling to become a writer.
  • I was so in awe of her that my hands shook when I set her soup bowl before her. I used to linger near her table hoping to catch snippets of “book talk” but never did. ( I did hear about her horses, though.)
  • And once upon a time, I owned a car used in the movie version of the book: a white, 72 Mercedes with blue leather interior (which seems a bit odd considering the movie was set in 1965), and something was wrong with the transmission so the car couldn't reverse, but still...

Who's Been Driving in My Car?

I loved driving in that car, wondering if maybe one of those hot, young stars to be—Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze (bears repeating), Ralph Macchio—rode in my car. I can't count the times I watched the movie hoping to see my car, but every-dang-time got so caught up in the story I forgot to look... But I digress.

Here’s what I remember S. E. Hinton, creator of The Outsiders, the book which launched the creation of a new genre of books: Young Adult Fiction, telling attendees at various Tulsa writing events. These snippets  sustain me as a writer and inspire me as a storyteller:

  • Little Susie was petrified to write that second book. So reluctant was she that her husband, then boyfriend, bribed her to write by refusing to take her out on dates until she’d written her requisite 2 pages per day. If needed, he’d sit and wait until she finished them.
  • She doesn’t write with a theme or message, doesn’t plant symbols in her stories, doesn’t do anything but try to “tell a damn good story.” And never knows that her books have themes or embedded symbols or deep truths until readers write and tell her what they are.
  • She so completely immerses herself in the characters she’s writing about that she is completely miserable while writing, so much so that when her son was young, she had to stop writing YA for a time because it was wrecking havoc with her home life.
  •  She is rumored to have had a "fling" with one of those wild, hot boys who may or may not have ridden in my Mercedes...

Imagine! Some 45 years later more than 14 million copies of that Tulsa Sister who tried-to-and-did's debut novel, The Outsiders, have been sold, and an estimated 500,000 copies continue to sell each year.

If you want to purchase your own autographed copy of the anniversary edition of The Outsiders or That Was Then, This is Now, here's your chance! S.E. Hinton is signing books for one day only, May 8, 2012,  at Books of Wonder in the Big Apple. Here’s the ordering info: http://www.booksofwonder.com/prodinfo.asp?number=135834

Stay Gold!

*Want to know what Little Susie looked like back when? Hinton plays a cameo role as a nurse in France Ford Coppola’s movie of the film.  Hey, Pony Boy???

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Hard At Work, Waiting

What Inspires: Kindred Spirits"Oftentimes writing can feel overwhelmingly lonely, a fool's errand," Daniel Alarcon wrote in THE SECRET MIRACLE; THE NOVELIST'S HANDBOOK. (Alarcon was one of the writers included in The New Yorker's "20 under 40" list).

"It's gratifying to be reminded that at any given moment, there are thousands of others, working in hundreds of languages all over the world, engaged in much the same pursuit. They, like all of us, have good days, bad days, and days where it is more useful to sit quietly and read, let the writing wait."

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Superman is onto Something...

What Inspires: Random Reading Opportunities Phone booths are all but obsolete...Page turners are being replaced by electronic scroll bars...Libraries are being cut as callously as carbs from the At kin's Diet. Still, book lovers find a way...

A  while back I read how the kitsch red British phone booths were being tossed into the Public Works refuse lots and left to rot. Until, that is, book starved folks in rural areas began turning them into lending libraries. I wondered how it came about: Did someone desperate to make a call, maybe in need of roadside assistance, race into a phone booth, dial and dash. And  in his/her haste leave behind a pocket novel, which was picked up some days later by a passer-bye who picked it up and read it. Then, a good read later, returned it, along with a few of his/her pre-read selections, to the phone booth. Maybe even called a friend to tell them of this brilliant deposit/depository and thus the phone-booth turned honor-system lending library--a "free" library in the truest sense--was born. No matter how it started, the craze caught on and now red British phone booths are being refurbished and redeposited as libraries.

Folks in Clinton, New York caught onto the Phone Booth-turned-Library trend with "America's Littlest Library" http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/891988-264/town_of_clinton_ny_opens.html.csp

I've noticed how phone booths in the U.S are similarly disappearing; In other countries, too. They are disappearing so quickly that at the brand-new Jakarta airport terminal they installed the phone stations but never even bothered with the phones...instead the kiosks are and seem destined to remain un-phoned. Sad how phone booths in the UK become libraries while U.S. phone booths have become toilets... what's that say? (I digress...)

But not all of them! NYC Architect, John Locke, is refurbishing phone booths for use as libraries. He's designed a shelving unit that fits inside the phone booth casing easily.

Then a note about the newest wave in libraries flew across my screen and bouyed my spirits:  Birdhouse Libraries. These lending libraries mounted on poles look more like marten houses. But they are definitely not for the birds. A  not-for-profit organization called "Little Free Library" http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/ has taken it upon itself :

  • To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
  • To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.
  • To build more than 2,510 libraries around the world--more than Andrew Carnegie!

By setting up these road-sized lending libraries all over the place. The website shares lots of examples of these Book Houses. There are even directions how to build your own. Why not build one and mount it in your own front yard.Phone Booths . Birdhouse Libraries.Say, maybe--with the state of the postal service--mailbox libraries are next?

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Marilyn Rang the Bell! and NED is My New Favorite Name

There are few things as satisfying as reaching the best ending to a story. There's that awe moment followed by a smile...and the smile lingers! As those of you who have been following my blog know, my sis-in-law Marilyn was diagnosed with breast cancer last September. (Read Nov. 11 blog posting, "Helping Hearts.") I could use up all my words describing what "treatment" entailed (and still not get it right) nor do I want to. That's not what this is about.

This day is for rejoicing, for celebrating, for breathing a long-overdue awe and for smiling.

I'll let Marilyn tell you her news, her way! (excerpted from e-mail note, Mar. 13, 2012 entitled "10 Days After")

Hi Everyone!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your love, support, humor, and so very much more. I've made it through my last chemo treatment and the hardest days that follow chemo. I feel good, am able to get out, drive, swim, take restorative yoga classes, and then rest as needed. My mind has more energy than my body so I have to watch what I think I can do versus what I actually should/can do.

I've never been a  big fan of "losing" an hour each spring, but this year the gaining light matches my coming out from under the cloud of the last 6 months of cancer treatment. Like the light, the dawning that the chemo is behind is coming slowly as I absorb the reality. I saw one of the oncologists this morning, not my primary one, to get the needed results of blood work at the 10 day mark after Taxotere chemotherapy. It's the point  when the blood counts can be at their lowest. All were in great shape. The way any meeting with an oncologist starts is with side effect:  "Is it normal that all my teeth feel like they have cavities?" "What should I do about this red rash on the top of my  hand?"  "Still have tingling in fingertips and some pain." I forgot to ask, "Do you think these fingernails are going to fall off?" (Losing fingernails sometimes occurs with Taxol and Taxotere.) Not that any of these side effects are big concerns, the tingly/numb fingers are the worst of them. It's kind of interesting to see what happens.

When I happened to review the list, the brutal mental/emotional testing made more sense. By this last treatment, the emotional part was much, much better. I think it being the last treatment helped in a couple of ways that I wasn't aware of before. First, I wasn't having to unconsciously conserve my energy for the treatments coming. There was a certain amount of steeling myself for the long run that I wasn't aware of. Second, again unconsciously, I was always wondering how long the various side effects were going to last, if they would increase in intensity or be long standing: sores in mouth, nausea, diarrhea, fever, pain, numbness, etc. (I list these here for a look into the experience of chemo.) There is a term "the new normal" that is batted around a lot, meaning there will be side effects that will stay with you after treatment that weren't there before. One new normal is the numbness on my underarm after surgery on my lymph nodes. It feels like I'm putting deodorant on over clothing. I'm very fortunate. There are many, many side effects that I don't have.

I asked the doctor today what I should call my present state --post cancer, cured, what? He said that I was "no evidence of disease" (NED) and that my breast cancer has been "treated."

"NED" is what I think I'll throw around at cocktail parties. The drugs that I'm taking now, one he called a heat seeking missile, significantly reduce the chance of cancer returning.

At the cancer center, when a patient finishes the final chemo treatment, she/he gets to ring a bell. I was a little shy about doing it, but it was very satisfying once I did.

NED...the name has a lovely ring to it!

 

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World Read Aloud Day

Today, March 7th is World Read Aloud Day!

World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.

Lit World is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the written word! (According to LitWorld's website, there are 793 million illiterate people in the world. ) Find out more about LitWorld, register to be part of the worldwide read aloud, donate, get involved--and most importantly READ and spread the written word!

What better way to celebrate World Read Aloud Day than by Buddy Reading...and, it just so happens some wonderful reader posted  a read-aloud of NOT NORMAN, A GOLDFISH STORY on U-Tube. So, get cozy, grab a buddy and READ!

NOT NORMAN, A GOLDFISH STORY, Buddy Read-Aloud: If the hyperlink doesn't click, cut and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE_bId4fr28

And here's a little ditty to celebrate the day (Get ready to channel Karen Carpenter's version of Sing!):

Read/Read a Book/Read out loud/Read out looooong/

Don't worry that you're not good enough for anyone else to hear/

Just read/Read a Book!

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First Love!

What Inspires: First Love! And they ask: "Are you ever going to try writing a 'real' book" . . .

 “The prime function of the children’s book writer is to write a book that is so absorbing, exciting, funny, fast and beautiful that the child will fall in love with it. And that first love affair between the young child and the young book will lead hopefully to other loves for other books and when that happens the battle is probably won. The child will have found a crock of gold. He will also have gained something that will help to carry him most marvelously through the tangles of his later years.”

Notable children’s books by Roald Dahl include: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches, The Twits, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The BFG, The Gremlins, The Enormous Crocodile, Esio Trot, Fantastic Mr Fox, George's Marvellous Medicine, and Danny, the Champion of the World.

I’m reading a collection of Dahl's adult short stories now—beautiful writing at its most irreverent, racy, scary, creepy, often horrific. No crock: pure gold!

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DUCK, ALL YOU NORMANS!

What inspires: True Life Adventure! Nothing so fun as watching a classroom of toddlers romp! For them,  life filled with wonder, so exciting & fresh! Every moment is a new adventure--

But, life in a pre-school classroom holds danger, too. . . Especially if you're the new fish in the classroom . . .

A few weeks back, my friend Sherri shared how one day her grandson George's preschool teacher asked the class what their empty fishtank needed. George hollered out "A Fish!"

I knew right then what they really needed-first and fast: Not Norman, A Goldfish Story!

Today I recieved a note from Sherri. She had good news and bad news: The good news was George likes my book (yes!)

The bad news:

"They had to replace their fish at school because a little girl threw a toy in the tank and conked the fish on the head. The next day he was belly up."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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