What Inspires Me? Goldfish Love
Goldfish are not only funny, they are smart! And, surprising…if you doubt me, check this out.
This photo is not a hoax.
Nor did Norman have anything to do with Gabriel taking a flying leap?
As far as I know, Norman doesn’t even know a goldfish named Gabriel.
But if he did, I’m sure they’d be very good friends!
This photo was snapped by a friend in Fairfield, Connecticut.
As far as we know, Gabriel is still out there, swimming at large.
So, be on the look out for a swim-away goldfish. Although…
Check out that reward. WTF??????????
only 27cents?
That’s not exactly what we call Goldfish Love…
mild like maybe…
but, LOVE???
Poetry Challenge #263-Upside-Down, Backwards, Sideways Shel
We’re shaking things up the week so we can celebrate Shel Silverstein’s Birthday, September 25, 1930…1931...1932…some year around then (at some point Shel refused to give more interviews and forbade his publishers—and everyone else—from revealing more personal info.) That alone is worth celebrating, right? What we do know is that Shel Silverstein, known most-well to us as an author, playwright, and poet, a self-proclaimed lousy baseball player, former Comiskey Park hot dog vendor, started out drawing comics for Playboy Magazine and writing country songs, one of which, “Boy Named Sue,” is Johnny Cash’s all-time best-selling single! Shel Silverstein passed away in 1999, but through his poems, stories, songs, lives on.
Poetry Challenge #263
Upside-Down, Backwards, Sideways Shel
Here is one of Shel Silverstein’s poems from his collection A Light in the Attic, called “Backwards Bill”. While reading it, can’t you practically see how the alliterative BBs in that name “Backwards Bill” was the driving force behind that poem. But why stop there?
In honor of this rule breaking, risk taking, rhyme making poet, let’s push alliteration as far as we can go by crafting a Tautogram! A quick search didn’t turn up any of Shel Silverstein’s tautograms but can’t imagine he never tried his pen at one. So…This one’s for you Shel!
What’s a Tautogram you ask?
Tautogram, from the Greek words, “tauto” meaning same and “gramma” meaning letter, is a puzzle of a poem in which every word starts with the same letter.
That’s it! That’s the only rule!
Variations on a tautogram include: creating a poem where each line or stanza starts with the same letter and that letter changes from line to line or stanza to stanza.
Tautograms are not meant to be “serious” literature, they are written for fun. So have at it and have fun!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Reward Time: Click over to listen to Shel Silverstein on the Johnny Cash Show!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pal asks "Who's Your Best Friend?"
Those of you who read the Norman the Goldfish books know that the boy didn’t want a goldfish—not at all when they met. But then, by the end of the book, He and Norman are best fishes—which in human, is best friends.
This illustration is from NOT NORMAN, A GOLDFISH STORY (Candlewick Press). Click on the picture to view my U-Tube Read-Aloud
Here’s Norman’s list of three qualities of a best fish:
Honest
Good Listener
Supportive
What do you think makes someone a best friend?
Ready to read Kelly’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Another trait good friend have is being “fun” and “having fun together.” On that note, here’s one of Norman’s favorite finny:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Artie Fish.
Artie Fish who?
Artie Fish-el Intelligence.
For more about what it takes to be a best friend, here’s a list of “10 Qualities of a Good Friend,” from newkidscenter.org.
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish- about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Don’t forget to order your copy of NOT NORMAN: A GOLDFISH STORY and NORMAN: ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!
Fin Pal asks Norman about Friends, Tanks & Flipper
Eddie wrote that his fish Flipper was a red “betta”. Betta fish are also known as “Siamese Fighting Fish” because male betta fish will fight with each other over territory. There are about 70 kinds of betta fish. They are called “living art” because they are so beautiful. Like Norman and other goldfish, betta fish need space to swim around, clean water, and special food. Beta fish and goldfish can not live in the same bowl because they have different habits and needs.
Ready to read what Norman wrote back to Eddie?
Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
But first a finny!
Q: Which is better at basketball, a goldfish or betta fish?
Q: Which is better at basketball, a goldfish or betta fish?
A: Neither, because they’re both afraid of the net!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish- about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Don’t forget to order your copy of NOT NORMAN: A GOLDFISH STORY and NORMAN: ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!
Poetry Challenge #262-State of Mind
It seems like every week there’s a National “State” Day. With 50 States in these United States, not to mention all the other geographically defined states in the world, it makes sense! There are lots to states to celebrate. This National State Day , Sept 22, 2022 . But which state you ask?
It could be a physical “state” but… it could also be the “state of denial” or the “state of unrest” or maybe the “state of disarray”… it all depends on your state of mind. we dare to ask the tough question: Which state? It could be the “state of denial” or the “state of unrest” or maybe the “state of disarray”…sometimes it all depends on your state of mind. . .
Poetry Challenge #262
State of Mind
Today let’s honor the state you live in.
Make a list of things you like best about your state.
They might be products your state is known for or facts about your state, or they might be special things only you notice.
Write a postcard poem, inviting people to visit the best state.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
In the spirit of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” try setting your state poem to music!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Poetry Challenge #261-Kidding Around
It’s National Parents’ Day Off (Sept 14th)! Can you imagine how excited your parents are today?
National Parent’s Day Off was established in 2021, but EPIC! A digital library. Why? “Parenting can be challenging and messy; that’s why parents should get ready for an EPIC BREAK!”
While that is absolutely true, what’s happens to the kids? Enter that Cat in the Hat!
Poetry Challenge #261
Kidding Around!
Imagine your parents really take the day off. What doesn’t get done? What happens because of that? What would you miss the most?
Write a poem about one of the things your parents wouldn’t do. Or write a list poem of all the things.
Try to include how these missing tasks would make you feel.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
What Inspires Me? Digging Through the LOC Stacks
This is a page from the 1893 H.H. Kiffe Catalogue. How did I find it? Joanna Colclough, a Librarian Extraordinaire/Archival Archeologist at the Library of Congress dug it up!
That’s what inspires me: The Library of Congress!
The Library of Congress (LOC) is “the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country.” -wikipedia
What’s in the Library of Congress?
Copies of every publication in the English language that is deemed significant. Specifically:
via Wikipedia: “The Library of Congress states that its collection fills about 838 miles (1,349 km) of bookshelves and holds more than 167 million items with over 39 million books and other print materials.[5] A 2000 study by information scientists Peter Lyman and Hal Varian suggested that the amount of uncompressed textual data represented by the 26 million books then in the collection was 10 terabytes.[77
What’s especially inspiring is that the Library of Congress is OUR LIBRARY!
Each of us—me and you—can access the library. We can visit it in person—it is an actual library located in Washington D.C. and we are welcome to visit it, browse the collections, see the books and some memorabilia and collection items ourselves.
But, what’s easier is that much of the Library of Congress holdings—especially photographs—is on line! All we have to do is input what you’re looking for in the search box, click and look!
And if, like me, you need lots of extra help finding what you’re looking for, the Library of Congress staff is super helpful.
See for yourself! Click to Visit the Library of Congress!
See you at our library!
I’ve been digging—yep! Elbow deep, digging, but not “in the dirt.” I’ve been digging through the Library of Congress archives in search of baseball minutiae for my forthcoming picture book The House That Ruth Built (Familius 2023). It’s about the opening day game in the original Yankee Stadium and Babe Ruth’s historic first homer in the stadium, but so much more. It’s about the origin of the game, and history—so much history—100 plus plus plus year-old history of the sport and the world as it was back then. For instance, how do you think that April 18th, 1923 game was broadcast?
It wasn’t.
That’s right. No one saw that historic game on TV because there was no TV back then.
No one sat with their ears glued to some huge box radio either, because while radio had been invented—credited to Guglielmo Marconithe in 1894, and the first professional baseball game had been broadcast on the Radio—Aug 5, 1921, Pirates vs Phillies at Forbes Field in Pittsburg— the NY Yankees did not allow their games to be broadcast until the 1923 World Series.
The only people to enjoy that first baseball game played in Yankee Stadium in real time were folks at the actual game. The rest of the world experienced second-hand from sports reporters who shared the play-by-play with fans via telegraph which was then transcribed and printed in newspapers. And where, 100 years and more later, does one find those newspapers?
Kids: Try some Baseball Math!
These pages from the 1893 H.H. Kiffe Catalogue list baseball stuff for sale. If $1 in 1893 is equal in purchasing power to about $32.92 in 2022, how much would one of these baseball hats cost today?
Poetry Challenge #260-Grandma Moses Me Anytime!
If anyone ever calls me a “Grandma Moses” I won’t bop them on the head with a broom. No way! I’ll smile and say, “Thank you, kindly!”
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka “Grandma Moses” spent all of her 101 years tootling around in the same few square miles called Eagle Bridge, New York.
But, to paraphrase George Baily, folks did a lot of living and dying in her corner of Washington County and at is aptly called “ripe” age of 78, Grandma Moses began seriously painting what she saw…her way!
Happy Grandma Moses Day (Sept 7th)!
Before we rush into our prompt, Here’s more from Bennington Museum, which houses the largest publicly owned collection of Grandma Moses’ work.
Poetry Challenge #260
Just Like Grandma Moses
Take a good long gander at one of Grandma Moses paintings below. Take a moment and transport yourself into the painting, to that time, that place…into Grandma Moses’ world.
Write a poem inspired by that painting.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Luckily Grandma Moses’s spirit is preserved in interviews like these. Click on!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .