#4 I Didn't Mean to Hurt Him . . .
Confessions of a Baby Vampire #4
Oh the glee with which my mother relays baby vampire stories . . . I don't recall this every happening, can't imagine myself doing it, but, the story goes that my brother Joe . . .
Confessions of a Baby Vampire #4
Oh the glee with which my mother relays baby vampire stories . . . I don't recall this every happening, can't imagine myself doing it, but, the story goes that my brother Joe love, love, loved his baby sister. And he loved to give me squeezes and lovies. One day, he bent close to do just that and CHOMP! I bit him, clamped down on his bottom lip and would not let go . . .
My brother Joe, 3 years old. He was a loving big brother
The "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest--is NOW!!!
Here's how: View the Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett book trailer on Youtube. Leave a comment. You're entered to win you're very own authographed copy of the book. It's that easy!
#2 Her Favorite Food are Red, Blood-red . . .
Confessions of a Not-So Baby Vampire #2
Having lived all my 8 years near the strawberry fields of California--"The Fruit Bowl" "Salad Bowl" or "Paradise" Nanny called it, depending on the season--moving to Pennsylvania, arriving Christmas Eve, in a blizzard, was . . . an adjustment. My mom says my brother and I "cried because we couldn't go outside." (I think she's being a bit dramatic...) The sentiment was true enough. I especially missed the abondanza of fruit: red delicious (although mealy) apples, plump red plums, juicy red raspberries, and most of all, heaping crates of field-sweet strawberries so ripe the juices ran blood-red down my arm when I bit one.
In our Easter outfits, check out those gloves and my groovy handbag!
So that first Easter in Pennsylvania, when mom surprised us with a fresh strawberry pie, well, who could blame me?
After double-checking no one was near, I plucked a big red strawberry dripping with glaze from the back of the pie and ate it.
Blood-red desire for more drove me to do something I knew I shouldn't.
I sneaked back into the fridge, plucked another strawberry out of the pie. Held it poised over my mouth and bit off the bottom. Then I tucked it back into the pie, stem side up. The glaze settled in nicely around it. None would have been the wiser if I'd stopped at one. But I didn't. Couldn't. Again and again I sneaked back for more.
Who will notice a missing bite or two. . . Pass the whipped cream, quick!
By the time it was served, the pie had shrunk in size by half. I held my breath and hoped no one would notice. And they didn't seem to, not until my mom served up the first slice and several bottomless strawberries tumbled out.
The "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest--is NOW!!!
Here's how: View the Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett book trailer on Youtube. Leave a comment. You're entered to win you're very own authographed copy of the book. It's that easy!
An Anthor's Fear . . .
If a tree falls in the forest and noone is near, does it make a sound?
The question was first posed by Philosopher George Berkeley, in A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (pub. 1710). Here's the passage "But, say you, surely there is nothing easier than for me to imagine trees, for instance, in a park [...] and nobody by to perceive them. [...]
Help! I'm falling and I can't get up . . .
In June 1883, in the magazineThe Chautauquan, the question was posed, "If a tree were to fall on an island where there were no human beings would there be any sound?"
The question was answered with an emphatic NO!
"Sound is the sensation excited in the ear when the air or other medium is set in motion."[3] . In other words, if there is no ear near to hear it, there is no sound.
If a book is published and nobody reads it? Then it is no book.
Spoken or not, this is every author's fear. And we are a fearful lot:
First, we fear we won't be able to tell our story . . .
Then, we fear our story will never be published . . .
After, we fear no one will want to read our book. . .
And in-between, before and after there are a byzillion other smaller fears... (Is it any wonder so many notable authors, as Mr. Bojangles put it, "drinks a bit"?)
They make housecalls . . .
That's why I did it--4 am wake-ups, 3 flights, 6 hours drive--Why I went to Fenton, MO, where, thanks to Deborah, the Barnes and Noble Community Relation's Rep, and Rebecca Grose, my publicist, visited 6 schools, gave 6 school and 2 store presentations, to read. Read it I did. I read VAMPIRE BABY at least a dozen times, and NOT NORMAN, A Goldfish Story, too!
What ohhhh, what a joyful time it was!
Gretchen, the brand new Guffey Elem librarian, came by the store after work just to scoop up copies for her library!
Angie and "Granny from Philly" brought the triplets, Jacob, Ryan & Kevin, by for Storytime (and Granny asked where I got my hair cut, but didn't think it was worth the trip to my Trini hairdresser, Helen...)
Mrs. O, the Trautwein Elem librarian broadcast the program and answers to their most excellent questions throughout the school. I've met David Shannon...does that count??? And yes, it really did take me 2 years to write that book with just those many words...
B&N Children's Section welcome
What these pictures don't show is a couple hundred K-2nd graders, in all manner of costume and hair-do, eyes bright, shaking their fingers and shouting out "NO BITE!"
Music to my fearful author's ears!
The "I VANT MY VAMPIRE BABY" Contest begins Oct. 15. Enter to win!
Link: http://kellybennett.com/blog/2013/10/i-vant-my-vampire-baby-contest-details
STARRING: VAMPIRE BABY!
VAMPIRE BABY has fangs and she knows how to use them! See for yourself! Watch the VAMPIRE BABY book trailer NOW!
YOUCH Tootie! NO BITE!
VAMPIRE BABY is here!
Finally...5 years and 12 revisions and I-don't-even-want-to-try-to-count how many Vampire movies, books, blogs after that fabulous title popped into my head Vampire Baby has arrived! Thanks to all of you who laughed when I said the title.) Paul Meisel's art makes it! Available from Candlewick Press and booksellers everywhere!
Here's the blurb:
It happens overnight: "little sister Tootie goes from cuddly, ga-ga-goo-goo, I-want-my-ba-ba baby to...vampire baby." Now she’s sinking her pointy fangs into everything -- furniture, toys, and especially her big brother ("Youch, Tootie! No bite!"). Mom insists that it’s just a phase, but Tootie’s brother knows better. Just look at her hairline! Or the fact that all her favorite foods are bloodred! With perfect comic timing, Kelly Bennett and Paul Meisel give a fresh slant to the new-baby story, proving that even monstrous little arrivals have a funny way of staking their siblings’ affections.
When Tootie gets her first teeth, it’s clear to her big brother that she’s no ordinary baby. But how to convince Mom and Dad?
Warning: VAMPIRE BABY is coming . . .
Tootie has fangs! And she knows how to use them...
It happens overnight: little sister Tootie goes from cuddly, ga-ga-googoo, I-want-my-ba-ba baby to . . .vampire baby. Now she’s sinking her pointy fangs into everything -- furniture, toys, and especially her big brother ("Youch, Tootie! No bite!"). Mom insists that it’s just a phase, but Tootie’s brother knows better. Just look at her hairline! Or the fact that all her favorite foods are red, blood red! . . .
VAMPIRE BABY is fanged, dangerous, and crawling your way this July.