100 Years Ago, Ruth's House Opened for Business!
Hi Fishbowl Friends! Today is the day-the day that started this whole journey-from idea to poem to picture book: April 18th, 1923! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Here’s the link to the article. Thank you all for being on this journey—and celebrating with me!
WINNER OF The House That Ruth Built Pre-Order Giveaway is!
Happy April Fool’s Day! But not trick, only treats!
Before I announce the winner of The House That Ruth Built pre-order give-away, Thank you! Thank you! Everyone who shared about the book, reposted, liked, loved—and pre-ordered a copy of my new picture book.
Now…. scroll down for the big winner . . .
The winner is: Lindsey Vagt.
I repeat: Lindsey Vagt.
Lindsey wins the way-cool ALL-STAR Baseball Backpack Charm from Veronica's Arts — personalized, too!
IF YOU DIDN’T WIN the contest, you are all winners. And if you ordered from Red Jacket Books you’ll be recieving a surprise along with your book.
If you ordered somewhere else, you deserve a sweet surprise, too. So pop me a note in the comments and I’ll make sure you get a treat!
And be on the lookout because there is more prizes and more fun ahead! After all, the 100th Anniversary of the original Yankee Stadium and that opening day game is April 18th! So get ready to Play Ball!
Baby's Bite! Picture Books About Siblings to Sink Your Teeth Into!
Baby’s bite! Siblings squabble! That’s reality. Reading Books about Sibling Relationships is an easy way to discuss sibling stuff with kids. And because it’s March and you are reading aloud right? Here’s a list of picture books about siblings that are—as Vampire Baby puts it, “Toothly funny!”—definitely worth sinking your teeth into:
March is National Reading Month! In between games and goings-on, pull out some books and read-read-read aloud with your kiddos!
After all, wouldn’t it be wonderful if your future all-stars could read about themselves—for themselves! Win-Win-Win! (A Three-Pointer!)
Tip-off starts March 2nd with Read Across America Day!
And get this, you don’t even need to lug around those big old clunky books. There are scores of picture book read-alouds on-line—click and pick!
Videos of my picture books are just a YouTube button Click Away! Below is a screenshot of my You-Tube Channel @kellybennettbooks9789 so you’ll know it. (Seriously…CLICK HERE!)
March Read Aloud Month more dates to remember (in case you need an excuse to read):
March 2: Read Across America Day
March 4: National Grammar Day
March 6-12: E-Book Week
March 20th: World Storytelling Day
March 21: World Poetry Day
What comes after March? April, of course! Library Week! So no excuses!
What’s more! my new picture book, The House That Ruth Built, illustrated by Susanna Covelli, available now from Familus!
“With beautiful, true-to-event illustrations reminiscent of Norman Rockwell, and with facts on every page about the stadium, the teams, and that very first fateful game that christened the original Yankee Stadium, The House That Ruth Built is the perfect book for kids and baseball fans everywhere. Take a step into the past and watch the baseball greats make history!”
For reading all the way down to here, you get a reward: It’s a brand-new readaloud of THTRB
Happy Read-Aloud March!
March Reading Madness
March Madness is on! Basketball latter-gator …
March is National Reading Month! In between games and goings-on, pull out some books and read-read-read aloud with your kiddos!
After all, wouldn’t it be wonderful if your future all-stars could read about themselves—for themselves! Win-Win-Win! (A Three-Pointer!)
Tip-off starts March 2nd with Read Across America Day!
And get this, you don’t even need to lug around those big old clunky books. There are scores of picture book read-alouds on-line—click and pick!
Videos of my picture books are just a YouTube button Click Away! Below is a screenshot of my You-Tube Channel @kellybennettbooks9789 so you’ll know it. (Seriously…CLICK HERE!)
March Read Aloud Month more dates to remember (in case you need an excuse to read):
March 2: Read Across America Day
March 4: National Grammar Day
March 6-12: E-Book Week
March 20th: World Storytelling Day
March 21: World Poetry Day
What comes after March? April, of course! Library Week! So no excuses!
What’s more! my new picture book, The House That Ruth Built, illustrated by Susanna Covelli, available now from Familus!
“With beautiful, true-to-event illustrations reminiscent of Norman Rockwell, and with facts on every page about the stadium, the teams, and that very first fateful game that christened the original Yankee Stadium, The House That Ruth Built is the perfect book for kids and baseball fans everywhere. Take a step into the past and watch the baseball greats make history!”
For reading all the way down to here, you get a reward: It’s a brand-new readaloud of THTRB
Happy Read-Aloud March!
All Play Ball! Picture Books about Black, Brown, Male, Female Baseball Players
Spring Training is on! Right now, Major League Baseball players of all colors are warming up. A rainbow of baseball kids are warming up too, to play and watch—and read! These picture books about Black, Hispanic, Native American, male and female baseball players will make reading time a hit!
When talking baseball history, most fans’ knowledge of baseball players of color starts on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson took the field as the Brooklyn Dodgers #42, the first Black player to play in the MLB. But that is far from the truth.
Black players have been playing as long, as well, and in spite of the MLB—right along with White players—the same game, by the same rules, and on the same fields!
Did you know that when Yankee Stadium wasn’t hosting NY Yankee vs other MLB team games, it was home field for Negro Leagues Baseball teams, too.
And there are—and were—women in Pro Baseball! Players, coaches, scouts, managers and owners. Effa Manley, owner/manager of Newark Eagles, was the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame!
Nicknamed “The Great One,” Roberto Clemente led the Pirates to 2 World Series, hit 3000 hits, and was the first Latino to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Read more in Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburg Pirates!
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson was the first female pitcher in Pro Baseball pitched in the Negro Leagues.
Read more in Mamie On the Mound!
Before 1947, players of color were banned from MLB so under the leadership of player/manager Pop Lloyd, the Negro Leagues was formed. Check out the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum website for Black players history, photos and more!
Negro Leagues superstar Buck O’Neil played with the Kansas City Monarchs. The Greatest Thing is his story.
Josh Gibson known as the “Black Babe Ruth” was one of the biggest hitters of all time! read more in William Brashler’s biography Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues
“African Americans make up 50% of MLB’s current top 10 leaders in career HRs.”
On April 22, 1897, Louis Sockalexis became the first American Indian to become a Major League ballplayer with the National League Cleveland Spiders.
Read more about him in Louis Sockalexis: Native American Pioneer by Bill Wise.
Before Jackie Robinson put on the #42 Jersey and took the field as a Brooklyn Dodger, he’d done a lot of living and played a lot of baseball. There are books about him for readers of all levels:
And just so you know, my new picture book, The House That Ruth Built, illustrated by Susanna Covelli, is loaded with baseball history, vintage photos and trivia about the players, including Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson and the Negro Leagues, balls, bats, fouls, strikes bases loaded—available NOW from Familus!
What Inspires Me? J. Ivy
If you’re reading this, the 2023 Grammy Award ceremony is over. If you watched, you watched history being performed as the nominees and winners of a brand-new award category were announced:
Best Spoken Word Poetry Album
Whether you know it or not, poetry is alive and slammin’ in classrooms, coffeehouses— between b-ball games and cheer practice—gyms all over! Yes, Poetry!
Amanda Gorman brought poetry to the attention of the voting public when she read her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at Biden’s Inauguration in 2020.
But J. Ivy! By pushing, urging, writing letters, campaigning, insisting Spoken Word Poetry Albums be recognized as Grammy Worthy, Poetry—performance poetry—vibrant poetry—the spoken word is now right up there with Pop, Country Western, Blues…Spoken Word Poetry is the 1st or 91st of the 2023 91 Grammy Award Categories! As it should be, for as J. Ivy said in an interview shortly after the new Grammy category was announced:
“Poetry is at the base, the root, of song.”
While being nominated—perhaps winning (if you’re reading this you know)— was not J. Ivy’s reason for pushing for the Best Spoken Word Poetry Album category being added. His purpose was to give performance poetry it’s due and to help poetry creators & performers to be heard. After the category was added, he helped 20 or 30 other poet’ work through the award consideration submission process. But once you’re heard J. Ivy. you know he deserved a place on the list—in my opinion, at the top!
He’s nominated for his fourth album, 2022’s “The Poet Who Sat By The Door.” It’s a spoken word-musical opus that features contributions from Legend as well as Slick Rick, PJ Morton, Sir the Baptist, BJ the Chicago Kid and a number of other talents.
This year, J.Ivy is nominated alongside five other “Spoken” albums by, among others, Dave Chappell and our former POTUS Barrack Obama—none of which are poetry albums. The goal—J.Ivy’s goal for next year’s Grammys is to have “All five performers nominated be poets!”
Now that’s inspiring!
If, like me, you’re craving more of J. Ivy’s work, click over to J. Ivy’s YouTube Channel @JIvyTube settle back and enjoy!
HAPPY WORLD READ ALOUD DAY! 2023
Happy World Read Aloud Day 2023!
that’s worth repeating:
Happy World Read Aloud Day 2023!
Isn’t amazing! All over the world people are stopping whatever they are doing, grabbing a book, and a friend so they can READ! READ! READ!
ME Too!
And now you!
World Read Aloud Day is about celebrating the power of reading aloud. It was created by the non-profit organization LitWorld, “with the aim of bringing people and communities together through the power of words.” The event is now celebrated by over 173 countries around the world.
How exactly do we celebrate?
We grab a book and a friend and read!
I have the book: Shel Silverstein’s Where The Sidewalk Ends.
I hope you’ll be my friend!
Ready! Set! Click on my “Happy World Read Aloud Video” if you don’t see it below, it’s on my YouTube Channel: Kelly Bennett Books!
For more about Shel Silverstein—including a 7-minute Poetry Challenge, Lucky you! It just so happens a few months ago, right here in the Fishbowl, we featured Shel Silverstein in “Upside Down & Sideways".
What Inspires Me? The Third Act
This has been a wrenching few weeks. My dearest, long-time adult friend, John, passed away suddenly mid-December. (“Adult” as in we were of-age when we met, not that we were grown-ups.) We returned from his memorial Monday and then attended another memorial Tuesday for Bob Lupone, co-founder of the MCC Theatre, as well as an actor, primarily a dancer—the first Chorus Line Zach, in fact. (And yes, he was Patti Lupone’s brother.)
Robert Lupone, “Zach” with ”Cassie” in Chorus Line
I’m not going to talk about John here, but this is for him and about him, too, so bear with me.
Bob Lupone wasn’t a “friend,” but through MCC he was a part of our lives. MCC, the Manhattan Class Company, is an Off-Broadway Theatre Company he founded along with his maybe first adult friend, Bernie Tesley in the mid-80s—, the same time John and I began cooking together in the New Harvest kitchen. When they founded the MCC with a mission: “To create new work for the American stage.”
Almost 40 years later, the MCC is renowned for staging new plays—many that have gone on to bigger and more. And most importantly, MCC it is committed to and renowned for workshopping, developing, nurturing new playwrights.
In the MCC to tribute to Bob Lupone and at his memorial, many who spoke or shared written testaments talked about how much he loved discussing the work during creation of a play and performances. How they would “walk out of the theater anxious to go to the bar or restaurant and spend the rest of the night hashing over what [they] had seen?” And how, when developing plays he always asked the tough questions.
Lupone called that, the part that sticks with us afterwards, the things that keep us returning, remembering, making us think, keep us savoring the meal long after the dishes have been done, The Third Act.
“Whenever we considered a play Bob always made us ask ourselves if it had a ‘third act’? ”
Jubilee by Ellen Yeomans is A Third Act
A Third Act! Life beyond the stage, the page—afterlife.
When working with picture book creators—either workshopping our own work or discussing/dissecting published picture books—books we wish we’d written and those we are glad we didn’t—much of the conversation is about that after. The Third Act!
For lack of a better term, I call it the “about-about” as in sure we know what happens in the story but what is it really about? What is a reader left with afterwards? What’s the take-away? And what keeps us returning to the same story over and over again? Now I have a better name for it “The Third Act.”
Since John passed, we all—John’s family and friends—have been sharing photos and memories. Below are a few from our big-belly-laugh moments:
Give Me Somebody to Dance With
Tourists in Turks: John and me at L&R’s wedding
Play Me the Music!
“Baby you can drive my car!”
Give Me a Reason to Dance
John at M&M’s wedding. That’s not me dancing with him—wish it were!