WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" Spring 2024 QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
It’s That Time Again! What Time? Time to announce the winner of the Spring 2024 “Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner” Quarterly Give-Away at Kelly’s Fishbowl!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT! Watch the Winner Drawing Recorded LIVE!
Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is . . .
. . . Sarah Hickner!!!!!!!!
(If you’re that Sarah, you’ll be notified by email, so check your spam folder.)
Lucky Sarah will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you: There’s still next time! 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!
(Jeez! What’s with all the blinking??? Whoever counts Kelly’s blinks and posts the correct number first in comments will win a prize, too!)
WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" April 2023 QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
It’s That Time Again! What Time? Time to announce the winner of the 1st Quarter of 2023 “Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner” Quarterly Give-Away at Kelly’s Fishbowl!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT!
Watch the Winner Selection YouTube Video! (Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is . . .
Not so easy…to find that out, you’ll need to watch the next video because Dylan and Aiden want to announce it themselves! Click Here for the YouTube Link!
And the winner is . . . Emily!
(If you’re that Emily, you’ll be notified by email, so check your spam folder.) Lucky Emily will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! 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!
WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the Quarterly Giveaway is . . . Fanfare please!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
The good news is you made our fishy hearts flutter with joy. The better news is, there weren’t as many entries as there could have been—did you forget you could enter more than one time each quarter?—so all of you who did enter have a 1-30 chance of winning. Talk about great odds!
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT!
Watch the Winner Selection YouTube Video! (Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is: Marina V
Lucky Marina will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! 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!
Fin Pal asks Norman "Do You Love to Sing?"
Norman does sing and dance, doesn’t he? Especially when his human does what? Can you guess from the illustration below?
Image from NORMAN ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH illustrated by Noah Z. Jones (Candlewick Press)
You guessed it! Norman always sings and dances when his human plays the tuba. But, does Norman like it? What do you think?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
But first a finny!
Q: What is the difference between a piano and a fish?
Q: What is the difference between a piano and a fish?
A: You can tune a piano but you can’t tuna fish.
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: "Up to New Tricks?"
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
This drawing is not from Miss Racz’s class. It was sent by another friend at another school but we are pretending those are first graders asking questions. “Pick me! Pick me!”
Dang! That’s a lot of questions isn’t it?
Miss Racz’s first graders sent an email after viewing the Norman One Amazing Goldfish read-aloud on World Read Aloud Day #WRAD
There was no way we could answer them all in one note—there wasn’t room on the paper. But, we gave it a try.
Scroll down to read what we answered. And then, we have a question for YOU! . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
What cool tricks do you think Norman the goldfish should try? And what do you think Norman’s next adventure should be?
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #204-Joke's on You Mr. President
Presidents are people too, and they have funny stories, facts, and quirks just like other people you might know. Listed below are a few websites with…interesting…facts/stories about the presidents.
Scene from President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett & Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press)
Poetry Challenge #204
The Joke’s on You Mr. President
When you’re finished yukking it up, let’s Take 7 to commemorate National Presidential Joke Day (Aug 11th). Choose one Presidential fact or story and write a poem about it. Write your poem in couplets (two lines that rhyme) with lines of the same length.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
For fun, memorize your poem and recite it at dinner!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1900 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): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Poetry Challenge #176-Hooray! Library Shelfie Day
Every fourth Wednesday in January, bookies, biblophiles, readers, library nerds, like us—OK us—celebrate Library Shelfie Day. They (we) take a picture of themselves (ourselves)—a selfie—in front of a shelf of books—making it a shelfie.
Pictures are taken at the library, bookstore, school, or home—anywhere there is a shelf of books—and posted to social media #LibraryShelfieDay #ShelfieDay #Shelfie. Check out this collection of NYPL Favorites & Shee for your shelf!
When it comes to celebrating, they stop a snapping shelfies but, that’s not how we click:
Poetry Challenge #176
Library Shelfie Day
In honor of Library Shelfie Day, this week’s prompt is to write a spine poem. Find books on your shelves and arrange them so that when you read the spines, each book creates a line in the poem. See if you can include at least 5 books.
Here’s Mine writing Shelfie
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Spines Out! Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
My Shelfie—read it in the comments
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1742 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Goldfish to Artist: Interview & Give Away: Noah Z Jones...About that Sweatband?
One Amazing Interview with Noah Z Jones, the artist/creator of our finny goldfish, yes…Norman!
Noah Z Jones: the Human, the Artist & Goldfish Imaginer, the Disposal:
NTG: Do you have a pet? If so, what kind and what’s its name?
NZG: We’ve got three pets. A hermit crab named Pineapple and two loafy guinea pigs, Hippo and Panda. Pineapple makes weird squeaky noises in the middle of the night and Hippo likes to take Panda’s lettuce when she’s not looking.
NTG: What is your favorite food?
NZJ: Tacos. Always tacos. From now until the end of time it’s tacos. And Fruity Pebbles. But mostly tacos.
NTG: If I’d had a bigger breakfast maybe I wouldn’t have been so nervous.”
NTG: Any food you would not eat—even for a million dollars?
NZJ: Look, I’m gonna be honest, I’m like a garbage disposal. I’ll try anything once.
NTG: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?
NZJ: Naps. Give me a couch, a nice pillow and twenty minutes to doze and I’m the happiest person on Earth.
Kelly & Noah finally met years after NOT NORMAN was published—they were guppies!
Then (When you were a kid):
NTG: What did you like to do best?
NZJ: Draw and read. That’s all I used to do. And watch Saturday morning cartoons.
NTG: What was your favorite subject in school?
NZJ: Art! I loved it. I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up from the time I was in second grade or so.
NTG: Did you have a best friend or pet? (If yes, what kind and what was his-her-its-their name?)
NZJ: My best friend was a kid named Jon Tarr. By the time he was in sixth grade Jon had cracked his skull five times, on accident of course. I was only there for two of the skull crackings. This is real. Hi Jon!
NTG: What was/is your favorite kid movie or TV show?
Norman One Amazing Goldfish sketches—the eyebrows have it!
NZJ: Movie would be a tie between MATILDA and BABE, they’re both SOO good. When I was a kid I loved THE INCREDIBLE HULK, I loved imagining turning green and smashing things.
ALL THINGS NORMAN:
NTG: How do you get me to show so much emotion? (And what’s with the sweatband?)
NZJ: It’s all in the eyebrows! Most of my drawings of characters start with the eyes and eyebrows. Some people say eyes are the window into a person’s soul, but I say it’s clearly the eyebrows. OF COURSE NORMAN NEEDS A SWEATBAND!! The little fish is always sweating up a storm.
NTG: Do you do all the illustrations on the computer? Or do you draw some by hand? How does that work? Can you describe your process a bit?
NZJ: The drawings for both Norman books were all done on the computer, I like being able to change things and move parts of my drawings around and it’s so much easier to do those things digitally. I have a special kind of screen that I can draw on with a digital pen, it’s pretty cool. Though I have to say I’m always keen on drawing in paper sketchbooks, that’s where most of my ideas start.
NTG: What was it like illustrating a sequel to NOT NORMAN?
NTZ: It was fun and a little harder than I thought it would be! The first NORMAN book came out FIFTEEN YEARS AGO and my adorable fish drawin’ skill shad gotten a little rusty!
NTG: Must have been hard to top that boy-peeking-through-the-fishbowl NOT NORMAN cover for the sequel—or was it? How many ways did you try? Can you show us some?
NTZ: It was a little tricky, the first sketch for the cover got rejected…I’m sending it along so you can get a behind the scenes peek at it!
NTG: Would you like to work on another Norman the Goldfish adventure?
NZJ: YES, YES A MILLION TIMES YES!! Let’s do the first book series with a HUNDRED THOUSAND sequels!!
Last question N to N: What does your letter Z stand for? (I’ll tell you about my T is if you share your Z.)
To see samples of Noah’s cartoons, animation, antics—and to find out what he’s really up to, google him—that’s what we did—cyber stalking. Here’s his bio: Noah Z Jones,
Glu-glu glu-glug And don’t forget: A GIVEAWAY!
One Amazing reader will win hot-off-the-press, a Copy of NORMAN’S ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!!!
To enter: Subscribe to the Fishbowl & Leave one comment below. A random winner will be selected on Jan 31st.
Glug Luck!
P.S. If you think you’re read this before, you may be correct. A sassy artist needs to be celebrated twice—leave 2 comments and you’ll be entered in the contest twice. Twice is nice!!!