Homer for Jackson!...Giveaway Report
The best part of the Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner Giveaway is—the PRIZE Giving Part!
And the Summer 2023 prize was one hum-dinger!
As you might recall, a second-grader named Jackson won this past quarter.
How did Jackson enter the Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner Give-Away?
I’m glad you asked. An adult in his family posted this picture of Jackson holding The House That Ruth Built on my Facebook page.
In September, in a completely random drawing, Jackson’s name was pulled from a bucket. (To watch a replay of the drawing click to Kelly Bennett Books YouTube Channel)
Get this! Out of all the prizes he could have chosen, Jackson picked a virtual author visit for his 2nd Grade Class at Sue Park Broadway Elementary School in Spring, Texas.
Talk About Surprised!
Thanks to Jackson’s teacher, Ms. Kara Carpenter, who rearranged their busy schedule, I didn’t simply zoom with her class—I actually zoomed into the school. In person!
Noooooooooo I did just stand up there reading to myself. . .
Ms. Carpenter’s 2nd graders were seated on the floor—up front and center—asking questions and helping to remind Vampire Baby:
“Tootie! No Bite!”
And the class asked great questions!
We talked about where story ideas come from.
We talked about hobbies, and poetry and BASEBALL
…And how my families love of baseball and one of the 7-MINUTE CHALLENGE poetry prompts—posted each week on my blog “The Fishbowl” became a book—and more are in the works.
I talked about how stories become books…
“7 Times! Have you ever had to redo your homework 7 times?
You can’t see it—because Ms. Carpenter’s 2nd Graders are hidden by the desks—they are all shaking their heads—really hard—Homework 7 times!!!
And at the end of the visit Jackson passed bookmarks out to everyone and as a thank you Ms. Carpenter’s classroom has their very own copy of my new non-fiction picture book: The House That Ruth Built
Jackson really did hit a homer—an author visit for his homeroom that is!
And so did I! I had a delightful time doing what I love best—chatting writing, reading, books with kiddos!
Big thanks to Jackson and his 2nd grade teacher Ms. Carpenter for making it happen!
Before I left Jackson asked:
“Can I enter the Giveaway again!"
My answer: “YES!!!!”
And you can too!
The Winner’s Choice Giveaway happens—you guessed it: Four Times a Year!
That means 4-count them-1-2-3-4 drawings each year.
How often can you enter? As often as you like! And get this . . .
Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter.
There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
Find the Complete Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway details here!
#familius #baberuth #sueparkbroadwayelementary #giveaway #notnorman #picturebooks #readingisfun
Poetry Challenge #323-Zoom-Room
What the heck are you doing reading this?
Don’t you know it’s National Go For a Ride Day! (Nov 22.) A day set aside to throw responsibility to the wind, bundle up and go for a ride! (Although choose one of your more modest scarfs, we don’t want you to go all Isadora Duncan…
National Go For a Ride Day!
My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer, illustrated by Jules Feiffer tells the story about a trip to the zoo. It seems this trip has been put off several times, and the young main character is determined to not have it put off again. When it begins to rain and her dad mentions it, she tells him the rain isn’t on her side of the car.
Go For a Ride Music Video by Rockabye Beats (warning: it is an earworm):
Poetry Challenge #323
Zoom-Zoom
Think of a car ride you went on. Where were you going? Who was with you? How long did it take? What did you see out your window? What could have stopped you from going? Was the trip worth it?
Write a poem describing the ride.
Beep-Beep Beep-Beep Yeah!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ 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 Norman "Want to Visit?"
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
But first a finny!
Q: Why are goldfish so smart?
Q: Why are goldfish so smart?
A: They swim in schools!
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 #322-Animal Within
If this image of our poet-of-the-week whirling down the street in a cape and tricorn hat calls to mind Yankee Doodle, and you’d be half right. Marianne Moore was no Yankee, but she did doodle.
Marianne Moore (Nov. 15, 1887-Feb. 5, 1972) was a “highly regarded as a poet during her lifetime and even became a minor celebrity, featured in magazines such as Life, the New York Times, and The New Yorker.”—poetryfoundation.com bio.
She was so highly regarded for her “modernist” way with words that Ford Motor Company asked her to come up with names for a new series of cars. Alas, they rejected her suggestions.
Moore “stands as the greatest American modernist – of those poets who remained in America,” ala poetry foundation. (Which prompts curious minds to wonder: Where did the other modernist poets go?) A question for another day. A timelier question for this prompt might be: What is modernist poetry?
Modernist Poetry “rose” from the ashes of “The Great War,” WW1. Poets reacting to the horrors of war wouldn’t put their pen to “romantic” topics favored by earlier poets—nature or love in tidily metered and rhyming stanzas—favored by earlier poets. Modernists wrote about real-world events such as war and death.
Moore was a Bryn Mawr gal, who studied history and biology—her interests that leaked into her poetry, hence the title and subject of her first published poem “A Jelly-Fish”:
“Despite lacking regular rhythm, or meter, it [Modernist Poetry] still reads like poetry because it has meaningful imagery, symbolism, and alliteration. Free verse allows poets to experiment with rhythm and sound in ways that traditional forms do not allow. By breaking the formal conventions of the past, authors could experiment with language and express themselves more freely.”
Moore’s Collected Poems (1951) won both the Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the National Book Award, and in 1953 she was awarded Yale’s Bollingen Prize.
Poetry Challenge #322
Animal Within
Channel Mariane Moore’s modernist leaning for today’s prompt, by casting off by going light on the rhyme and meter but heavier on the imagery, alliteration and other poetic devices. And because
“She [Marianne Moore] frequently used animals as a central image to emphasize themes of independence, honesty, and the integration of art and nature.”—Poetry Foundation
Give your poem an animal name title. ROAR!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
Want more Moore? Here’s a link to 10 of Marianne Moore’s Best Poems.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ 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 #321-Kuh-CHING!
Money Money Mon-Ney!
Money Makes the World Go Around
“I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay. . . Ain’t it sad.”
Happy National Talk Money Day! (November 11th). A day designated to “teach people to stop being afraid of talking about money.” Despite the adage: The first one who mentions money loses.
$$$ Money Money MO-NEY $$$
Wallace Stevens said,
“Money is a kind of poetry.”
Many poets have written about money. Here’s a poem about money by Edgar Allan Poe:
“Epigram for Wall Street
I’ll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
’Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!”
Here’s one by Ted Kooser, the former U.S. poet laureate (2004-2006):
Selecting a Reader
First, I would have her be beautiful,
and walking carefully up on my poetry
at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,
her hair still damp at the neck
from washing it. She should be wearing
a raincoat, an old one, dirty
from not having money enough for the cleaners.
She will take out her glasses, and there
in the bookstore, she will thumb
over my poems, then put the book back
up on its shelf. She will say to herself,
'For that kind of money, I can get
my raincoat cleaned.' And she will.
And, finally, this one by Shel Silverstein:
Poetry Challenge #321
Kuh-Ching!
Now, it’s your turn. Write a poem about money—why you like it or don’t, what you would do with it, how to make it, keep it, spend it. It’s up to you! And, it won’t cost you a cent!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
And back by popular demand: A Money Song Playlist! Click and Sing!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ 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 #320-Playing the Game
Happy Fall Classic Sports fans! Depending on how the games go, as you read the Diamondbacks and Rangers may still be facing off, or one has emerged victorious—that’s your cue: raise your hands and channel Queen: “We are the champion! We are the champions!”
Decades before Queen’s anthem rocked sports fans, birthday boy Grantland Rice ((Nov 1, 1880 – July 13, 1954) stirred sports fans with words. Sans drums, special effects or technicolor Rice made heroes of mere mortals in black type on newsprint.
"When a sportswriter stops making heroes out of athletes, it’s time to get out of the business,"—Grantland Rice.
Grantland Rice was to sports writing what MGM, Paramount and Netflix were/are to actors. If you doubt me, take a walk down Hollywood Boulevard. That’s right: Rice has a Hollywood Star. His typewriter is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was that good.
As is so often the story, Rice, wanted to be a pro baseball player—at Vanderbilt he was captain of the football team and a shortstop—but his family, his good “old” Tennessee father and grandfather especially, would not hear of it.
Was Rice any good? The photo above of Rice in uniform circa 1901 is in the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Because he couldn’t play pro sports, Rice wrote about them. His syndicated column appeared in over 100 newspapers. Grantland Rice died in his office, of a heart attack, after completing a column about Willie Mays at the 1954 All-Star game.
The first time the World Series was carried on live radio—100 years ago—Rice was the play-by-play announcer. The NY Yankees won the series. Babe Ruth was the teams star player.
The day after Babe Ruth died, Aug 16, 1948, Rice’s poem “Game Called” was published.
“It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game,”—that was Grantland Rice.
Poetry Challenge #320
Playing the Game
Grantland Rice wrote in a “heroic” style with vivid imagery, metaphor and simile. It’s said he “raised games to the level of ancient combat and their heroes to the status of demigods.”
Because it’s his birthday, and it’s fall and there are all manner of balls in the air, let’s write a sports poem. The poem can be about any sport you fancy. Or a made-up sport.
Write it as Rice might have, in a “heroic” style.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Play!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ 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 Ask Norman "Do You Like Ice Cream?"
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
But first a finny:
Q: Why did Norman cover his eyes?
And now, the joke answer you’ve all been waiting for . . .
Q: Why did Norman cover his eyes?
A: Because the sunfish were too bright.
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 #319-Pucker Up!
October 25th is National Sourest Day. A day set aside to intentionally “Have a sour day, all day.”
So pucker up!
Here’s a start:
Lemon tree very pretty/
and the lemon flower is sweet/
but the fruit of the pour lemon/
is impossible to eat*
What do you think of when you hear the word sour? Lemons? Limes? Curdled milk? The look on your mom’s face when you fail your test?
We’ve all had bad days. The ones where you get up on the wrong side of the bed even when the bed is against the wall. The ones where you disagree with everyone, and they disagree with you. The ones where you think, like Alexander, that it’s a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
Poetry Challenge #319
Pucker Up!
In celebration of the Sourest Day of the Year (Oct. 25), write a paragraph or poem that describes a bad day you’ve had.
List the things that go wrong, compare them to the sourest things you can think of, and then, if you can, end with something that can fix your day.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
After you complete the challenge treat yourself to a song so sweet it will sour your stomach: Lemon Tree by Peter, Paul & Mary:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ 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 . . .