Vampire Baby Kelly Bennett Vampire Baby Kelly Bennett

#15 Should Charlie be Confessing?

If YouTube would have been around way back when, my brother, Joey, might have been the brother hollering "Youch!" in a clip the way Big Brother Harry does in the infamous "Charlie Bit My Finger" YouTube video.   

Harry and Charlie in the infamous clip. From the looks of it, Charlie does not apear to be a Vampire Baby (Although his canines are in shadow.)
Me, a family friend named "Bambi's" baby, and Joe. And no, I did not bite this baby...although it looks as though Joe may be nursing a sore finger.

We have a sick fasination with biting, and the fear of being bitten. Why else would Vampire/Dracula themes be so popular? 

The "Charlie Bit my Finger" clip, which as of an Oct. 17, 2013 article, is close to logging half-a-billion views, is proof. The brothers, according to the article, say the attention they garnered from the clip, coupled with the idea that "Charlie bit my finger like a rabid opossum, but Dad kept on filming because he thought it was awesome" has marred the brothers--maybe irreparably. Fortunately, money shouldn't be an issue if they decide to seek help. 

An article in the Daily Mail states that this and other "Harry and Charlie" YouTube videos have earned their family more than 100,000 pounds in advertising payments. 

How Much Did They Pay You Per Bite, Bela?
Here's a photo of the brothers now. "Open up, Charlie! Show us your fangs!!!!"


HURRY! Enter the "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest, 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! 

Midnight Halloween the contest closes. Winner will be announced Nov. 1st.  

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#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

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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. 

So, of course Vampire Baby has a play list. 

Music soothes the savage beast!

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

Any other songs you think should be on the list? Hum a few bars . . .  

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

 

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#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

 "Sunny" Eva, Lucy Chambers, & Marla, hosting the Bright Sky Press booth. 

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! 

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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

 

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#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!

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Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett
Official Blog Tour

  • October 26th Saturday
    -       Review & Spotlight Two-Tall-Tales
    -       Music Playlist & Spotlight Best Books
  • October 27th Sunday
    -       Review & Spotlight Racing to Read
    -       This or That & Spotlight Sassy Book Lovers
  • October 28th Monday
    -       Review & Spotlight Mary’s Cup of Tea
    -       Favorite Things & Spotlight A Dream Within a Dream
  • October 29th Tuesday
    -       Guest Post & Spotlight Paranormal Book Club
    -       Review & Spotlight Word to Dreams
  • October 30th Wednesday
    -       Tens List & Spotlight Bookworm Bridgette’s World
    -       Spotlight Book Suburbia
  • October 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!  

 

 

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#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!  

 

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# 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!  

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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

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!  

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

 

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