Kelly Bennett's Blog, page 82

#14 Confessions from a Vampire Victim's Mom

“I think Zachary was chocolate-flavored when he was little. He was bitten soooooo many times I started thinking about buying muzzles for other kids.”

— author Sarah Tomp about her son...too many Vampire Babies' victim

Sarah Wones Tomp wrote one of my favorite picture books: RED, WHITE & BLUE GOODBYE and the forthcoming "Moonshine" Young Adult novel MY BEST EVERYTHING, (Little, Brown 2015.  Her musings can be found at  "Writing on the Sidewalk". And while I'm sure she'd laugh at the sight of vampire fangs, I'm pretty sure she doesn't bite!

Everyone with a loved one in the military needs this picture book! You'll have to get it used because it's out of print.. but do... you'll be glad! 

Just a few more days left to enter 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! 

Here are the Contest Detail

s

Lucky #13 Vampire Baby Play List

After 4 years of piano lessons, my teacher finally told me one day "If you aren't willing to try playing chord progressions, maybe you'd better quit." (And yes, I did want to bite her for that...) So I can't play a few bars. But my head is stuffed with music. Say pretty much anything and a song pops into my head.

Music soothes the savage beast!

Of course Vampire Baby has a play list. 

Music Playlist for Vampire Baby:

            The
No Bite! Song (by Tootie’s Brother)

            Another
One Bites the Dust

            Crocodile
Rock

            The
First Cut is the Deepest

            Monster
Mash

            Little
Vampire

            Once
Bitten, Twice Shy

            Dracula
Disco

            All
I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

 

Just a few more days left to enter 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! 

Here are the Contest Details

#12 Confessions of A Vampire: Rambling at the Texas Book Festival

Texas Book Festival is on! Come join me and the gang from Bright Sky Press

We're celebrating ONE DAY I WENT RAMBLING--winner of the Writer's League of Texas Best Picture Book of 2013 Award.   Noon today at the Writer's League Booth!

Promise not to bite! 

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! 

Here are the Contest Details! 

 

#11 Confessions of Vampire Baby--Top 10s and More

 "Ours is not to wonder why. Ours is but to bite. Or try . . . " --Tootie aka Vampire Baby

Day #11 of Vampire Baby Confessions featured a visit to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer Blog spot for "Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett--Top 10 and Giveaway." Click over to discover my favorites--movies, snacks, picture book authors, and more!

Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett
Official Blog Tour

October 25th Friday
-       Review & Spotlight Me, My Shelf and I
-       Tens List & Spotlight I Am a Reader, Not a WriterOctober 26th Saturday
-       Review & Spotlight Two-Tall-Tales
-       Music Playlist & Spotlight Best BooksOctober 27th Sunday
-       Review & Spotlight Racing to Read
-       This or That & Spotlight Sassy Book LoversOctober 28th Monday
-       Review & Spotlight Mary’s Cup of Tea
-       Favorite Things & Spotlight A Dream Within a DreamOctober 29th Tuesday
-       Guest Post & Spotlight Paranormal Book Club
-       Review & Spotlight Word to DreamsOctober 30th Wednesday
-       Tens List & Spotlight Bookworm Bridgette’s World
-       Spotlight Book SuburbiaOctober 31st Thursday
-        Jean Book Nerd

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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

 

 

#10: Confessions of a Vampire Dog!

 Paul Meisel, VAMPIRE BABY's illustrator, the Dr. Frankenstein of our illustrator/writer partnership--in that he brings our creations to life--is a dog lover. He's never told me this directly, but I added dog + dog + dog together:

he sneaked a dog into the illustration for our other book together, DAD AND POP; 

Flip thorugh the pages and count how many dogs Paul sneaked into the illustrations! If you comment with the correct number, I'll throw you a bone!

Do the math: Dog Lover!

his author photo shows him hugging not his wife . . . not his kids . . . . His dog; 

 

 and after illustrating 70 some books, he burst onto the author scene with an easy-reader SEE ME RUN that earns the coveted ALA Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor. 

 

The Geisel Award is given for "Most Distinguished Beginning Reader"

No surprise then, that when I asked Paul to share some biting story--vampire or otherwise, he writes about a vampire dog: 

 

"Well, we had the craziest biting dog [Rusty]*. He was a Brittany, and from the moment we got him he did nothing but go into a frenzy for no reason, which was odd as he was most of the time a loving dog who even smiled at us (full teeth smile!). We thought he had rage syndrome so we took him to a dog trainer who specialized in aggressive dogs. She said he was "fearful", but fine. Turned out she was wrong too. . . . 

Other than all of my children having torn pants at the cuffs, there was one particularly amusing story relating to his biting.

One day while still a puppy, he went into one of his fits. I was walking him on the leash. He suddenly jumped up and grabbed hold of my jeans back pocket and pulled the pocket down, ripping my pants. Later that day I had to go to Petco and had forgotten about the rather large hole exposing my underwear until I reached the counter and went for my wallet, which I had of course had to put in my other back pocket."

Spoiler Alert: Turns out Rusty wasn't a Vampire Dog. Paul went onto explain: "As he aged, he [Rusty] mellowed a bit (and stopped biting us), and at around two and a half he went blind and couldn't stop drinking water. The vet guessed that he was born with a tumor on his pituitary which accounted for the rage syndrome symptoms as well as the drinking and blindness. His drinking obsession was stabilized with a drug that humans get (desmopressin), and he went on to live 7 more years as a happy, blind dog. (He only really had trouble getting around in the snow, when all scents were covered up.) 

(You've got to admit, my Vampire Dog theory makes for a better story...) 

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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

 

# 9 Confessions of a Girl Scout/Batgirl/Vampire

Sure sometimes I used my fangs for evil. But sometimes I used them for good. When evil struck I'd swoop in and defend the righteous! Fend off the foe! Save the day! Sort of Girl Scout/Batgirl hybrid.

Sadly, there is no badge for "Biting" or "Superhero Skills" 

Take this one time, when I was about 5, and my brother 7, a bunch of us were playing "school" (as we did many summer days. Go figure . . . ) I was playing "teacher" this particular time. (No surprise to those of you who know me well, but I almost always played "teacher".) Anyway, this particular day, my brother was playing, too. And some bigger boys,--5th graders--came along. One of them started teasing my brother because he was "playing sissy school with babies."

The boy started pushing my brother. Joe pushed back. A fight broke out. An completely unfair fight, I must add here. A case of big mean bully picking on a weaker guy.  Never fear. Girl Scout/Batgirl swooped in and bit the kid on his back. And kept biting-- clamping down as hard as those spiky, sharp baby teeth can--until the boy let go of Joe and ran away.

The big boy ran crying all the way home and told his father. Who came back, very indignant, to find the "bully who had bitten his son!" We were back to playing school then. A hush fell over the group. Then Girl Scout/Batgirl stepped forward. "I bit him!" I announced. "Cause he was picking on my 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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

Confessions of a Vampire Baby's Victim #8

Mary Chapin Carpenter sings a song called "The Bug" (written by Mark Knoffler), it goes: "Sometimes your the windshield/sometimes your the ball. . . . "

That's how it is with babies, too. Sometimes of us are biters. And the rest of you are, well . . . 

Take my friend, author Anne Broyles, reading her books, seeing her, knowing her, you'd never suspect her of being a biter. . .  

Just released! Sure to become one of those we-read-it-every-year Christmas stories (illustrated by KE Lewis, Pelican)

In keeping with the season: A Russian Immigrant family's first Halloween in the U.S.

 . . . And you'd be right. 

That didn't  prevent Anne from becoming a Vampire Baby's victim though. Here's her story:

"When I was three and a half, my
family hosted a family with a toddler. I had a great time lugging this
"baby" around and feeling like the "big kid." She was the
same size as my doll, but talked some, could play chase, and seemed to adore
me. So it was a shock when one day she brought her sweet face in close to mine
and...chomped my cheek. It had never occurred to me that another human being
would bite me, especially someone who I thought had loved me so much.

I pushed her off of me and yelled for my
parents. I vividly remember not so much the pain (though I had teethmarks on my
cheek for a while) as the betrayal of that baby's teeth. From then on, I
ignored the visiting toddler and stuck with my doll, who was about the same
size as the baby, but never, ever, not-even-once bit me."  

3 1/2 year-old Anne and her "trusty" friend

T he "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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

After, after, after you Enter the Contest:  Here's Mary Chapin Carpenter singing "The Bug" 

 

#7 Fangs! Some Do and Some Don’t . . .

Further Confessions of a Baby Vampire #7

Long,
sharp pointed fangs? Some biting babies have them, and some don't.

I don’t “tell” what I’m writing until I've written a solid draft. With VAMPIRE BABY it was different. For some reason—even when all I knew was the title—I needed to say it. It may have been my way of claiming it. “Dibs! Vampire Baby is my title! Mine!”

To my surprise, folks—lot of them—started sharing stories of their “vampire babies,” ie babies who cut their canines first. Which got me thinking about fangs: 

Sweet Baby James is definitely NOT a Vampire Baby--although he does play one in the VAMPIRE BABY Story Hour Kit!

Which got me thinking about Mike Smith.

Mike was a nice guy. Cute, too,(even if he was a head shorter than
I ever was). Except for his teeth. . . They were tiny, pointed and needle-sharp.
Don’t bother looking for a man named Mike with teeth like that. You won’t find
him. (At least not that Mike). Rumor has it, between junior and high
school he had all his teeth yanked and got dentures.

And my 2-month-young, adorable grandbaby, Bennett. We do have that photo of him biting his dad. . . Could Bennett turn
Vampire Baby? Is it hereditary???

 Barely 2-days-new and Bennett's displayed Vampiric characteristics

Trying to keep a level head, I did a quick Internet search on fangs: 

I discovered that "Genes are estimated to account for about 70% of the variation in
primary tooth development" (from 23andme.com).

So I kept clicking around. And while my internet search turned up a kazillion articles on
teething and the order in which baby teeth "usually" erupt, I
couldn't find anything about a genetic link.

And, I learned about a frightening genetic condition that can cause vampire fangs. It's called Congenital
Ectodermal Dysplasia and
results in "minimal to no growth of teeth in the mouth."  (From Tech E Blog). There were slews of articles on the
subject. And photos: 

 Simon Cullen, 13, and his brother George, 11

Further clicking turned up an article in Knoji Consumer Knowledge entitled  "The Genetics of Vampires":  which explains how Vampires are descended from a "genetically older form of human that had a higher DNA count from the beginning. . . at some point the human acquired an exogenous piece of DNA from a virus or another source. This piece of DNA could have then become the vampire DNA" who were, due to a hostile environment, forced to live underground and thus isolated evolved into Vampires. 

Run-of-the-mill "stock photo" of a vampire--maybe one of those who was born and not turned

Now totally freaked, my laissez faire attitude squelched, I did what I should have done from the start and went to the real  experts: Moms!

With centuries of experience who has seen more teeth errupt? Who better to ask about the emergence--or not--of fangs?

A search on Circle of Moms blog  turned up a strand of mom comments longer than a double-helix discussing the order in which baby teeth erupt.

The consensus: "Relax. Don't worry about it. Fangs happen!

 

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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

   

#6 I Was Aiming for the Wooden Spoon and Missed . . .

Confessions of a Kindergarten Vampire #6

Single mother of two before she was 22, my mother was what you politely call "strict." A staunch believer in the adage "spare the rod, spoil the child" any  weapon at hand--fly swatter, shoe, yard stick, wooden spoon--served as her "rod" when she was riled. Rather than heed warning and curb our mischievous ways, my brother and I hid the various weapons under the couch and carried on . . .

 While I do remember a repairman pulling out our gold vinyl couch and finding--to my mother's mortification--a grand assortment of "rods" hidden beneath it, I don't recall this episode. But everyone else in the family seems to. And it has always filled me with a sick sort of prideful remourse, so I'll share it here.  

Mother Mary Ellen, 23 and gorgeous! In my defence, she was weilding a wooden spoon

The story goes that one Saturday afternoon, my mother was in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of pancakes, when my brother Joe, then about 3, committed some offense. While she was stirring and reprimanding, I crawled into the room, across the floor, and using her leg to steady myself, pulled up to a standing position, turned my face into her leg, opened wide and bit  down! And, she says, smiled while she cried and hollered for me to let go. . .  

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! 

Here are the Contest Details!  

 

I Was Aiming for the Wooden Spoon and Missed . . .

Confessions of a Kindergarten Vampire #6

Single mother of two before she was 22, my mother was what you politely call "strict." A staunch believer in the adage "spare the rod, spoil the child" any  weapon at hand--fly swatter, shoe, yard stick, wooden spoon--served as her "rod" when she was riled. Rather than heed warning and curb our mischievous ways, my brother and I hid the various weapons under the couch and carried on . . .

 While I do remember a repairman pulling out our gold vinyl couch and finding--to my mother's mortification--a grand assortment of "rods" hidden beneath it, I don't recall this episode. But everyone else in the family seems to. And it has always filled me with a sick sort of prideful remourse, so I'll share it here.  

Mother Mary Ellen, 23 and gorgeous! In my defence, she was weilding a wooden spoon

The story goes that one Saturday afternoon, my mother was in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of pancakes, when my brother Joe, then about 3, committed some offense. While she was stirring and reprimanding, I crawled into the room, across the floor, and using her leg to steady myself, pulled up to a standing position, turned my face into her leg, opened wide and bit  down! And, she says, smiled while she cried and hollered for me to let go. . .  

The "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest--is NOW!!! 

View the Vampire Baby book trailer. Leave a comment. You're entered to win you're very own authographed copy of the book. It's that easy! Here are the Contest Details!  

If the link doesn't work, copy and paste this link to the Oct 5th post:  http://kellybennett.com/blog/2013/10/i-vant-my-vampire-baby-contest-details