Dear Reader...you have the power to change lives!
Ummm...that is if you think choosing a winner of a book contest will change someone's life.
I have so much fun putting my newsletter together and each month I have a contest. I try to be creative. But I tell you, the people who subscribe to the newsletter are ten times more creative than me. So this time around I asked them to come up with their own explanation of the origin of the phrase "the bee's knees" (I'm writing a book set in the 1920's so that's why I chose that saying). Your job is to vote on the winner. The prize is a signed collection of The Hunchback Assignments books. The poll will close on Sept. 14th.
Ummm...I forgot to put a word length in the contest details. So I had several entries that were too long for the poll. They are posted below, but they will be represented in the poll by the first sentence. I wish I was half as creative as these people.
So vote today. Vote often. You'll be helping someone get free books. And you're welcome to join the newsletter yourself. It's the bee's knees. Just click the "fun" button below:
Contest closes Sept. 14th, 2015!
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Extra long excellent entry#1:
You might think the term “bee’s knees” originated in the 1920s but actually, it originated thousands of years ago by ancient North Americans and found out about in the 1820s. But the discovery of this original use had been recorded but in storage for many more years.
In 1822, an archaeologist by the name of Nevada Jones (no relation to Indiana) was digging in a remote part of Utah in search of artifacts from ancient Native villages. He had a theory that North America’s first people were descendants of ancient Egyptians and their chiefs were buried in round caves constructed originally in the shape of pyramids, but winds over time eroded these North American pyramids into rounded buttes as they appear today.
Now, it is a little known fact that ancient civilizations like the Egyptians were beekeepers, and so were these ancient North Americans. In the largest and only tomb that Nevada Jones ever discovered, there were clay pots with fossils of dead flies nearby. Little flies as hard as rock. Since honey attracts flies, Nevada deduced these to be honey pots. Being near the pots also made Nevada break out in big red spots, and since his only allergy was honey, which gave him hives, it was a safe conclusion for him to make.
Cave drawings on the walls of this ancient tomb discovered by Nevada Jones in Utah depicted strange writing and drawings. Once set of pictographs showed small people (obviously children) compared to other people in the pictograph in what appeared to be round costumes that one could think looked like pumpkins if it were not for finely etched stripes on the round costumes and little etches of insects around the small, costumed people. These costumes covered the children from neck to below the knees. All that could be seen in the drawings extending from the round-shaped, striped costumes were a short neck and head, two short arms and short legs.
However, in one particular drawing a tall person (obviously an adult) was wearing one of these costumes and it did not fit well. It was too small. The legs shown below the round costume showed bent legs below the costume (the knee joint). Short people (children) drawn around this adult had their arms stretched out and their mouths open – as if they were pointing and laughing. Could it be?
Nevada Jones recorded everything he saw in the tomb. He copied out all the writing on the walls. He drew the pictographs to the best of his artistic ability. Some of Nevada’s earlier art work looked like stick men, but with this discovery, he spent time and was as precise as possible. His artistic ability was improving.
For the next two years from 1822 to 1824 Nevada Jones spent many an hour trying to decipher the writing on the wall. Finally he made a break-through. It was simple. What he had originally thought were letters were actually numbers, and musical notes and. He diligently made new notes and when he deciphered these number and musical notes and converted them to letters, this was what he determined what was written on the wall:
“Sing about trees, Sing about bees, Sing about knees
Knees on trees, bees in trees, knees on bees”
It all made sense to Nevada now. It was a poem, maybe a song, slightly musical. A very old song. Bee’s Knees.
In late 1824, Nevada Jones was having turkey supper on Christmas day with his sweetheart and choked on a turkey bone. Alas, she did not know the Heimlich maneuver as it was not to become common for another 150 years. After his death, all of Nevada’s papers and notes were put in storage and passed on to one cousin then another cousin, and passed down from one generation to another until it all fell into the possession of a man named Theodor Geisel, who is better known as Dr. Seuss. When writing his book I can read with my eyes shut in 1978 Dr. Seuss had recently read through the notes Nevada Jones had written about the writing on the wall and in this book you can read: “You can read about trees… and bees… and knees.”
And this explains how the term bees knees was used many, many, many hundreds of years ago and discovered about almost 100 years before the 1920s, but not known about because it was all boxed up until the late 1970s.
By Lane
Extra long excellent entry #2:
One night before bedtime, a little bee prays,
"Dear God, give me knees, and I'll give you praise.
With knees I can pray for hours every night.
And during the day, carry pollen in flight."
God hears the prayer and when little bees
Wake up the next morning, all have their knees!
At first they walk funny, then learn what they're for
And hundreds of little bees fly out the door.
They fly over land, over acre and hectare.
They fill all their knee sacks with pollen and nectar.
They gather all pollen and nectar in sight,
Then party hardy long into the night.
The first little bee parties hardest, it's true.
And he forgets to give God what is due.
God says, "Little bee, don't you remember your praise?"
But the bee is passed out in a honey-filled daze.
God ponders on this, and decides all the bees
are better off now, carrying pollen on knees.
Except this little bee, forgetting his praise
Will be kneeless for all the rest of his days.
So God takes the bee's legs and throws the knees far,
So high in the sky that they strike a small star.
The reason the 'bee's knees' are so great, boys and girls,
Is that little bee's knees are out of this world!
By BJ
Extra long excellent entry#3:
Bee’s Knees
“S... s... stop!” The girl in the cotton, paisley dress stuttered as she clutched the black leather bag to her chest.
“C’mon now. Give over kid,” cajoled the tall man as he gave the handles of the bag a tug. “I ain’t gonna hurt it none. I just wanna see inside.”
“No! It’s Duc’s stuff.” The girl wrapped her arms tighter around the bag.
Laughter broke out among the few people sitting around the stained bar counter that afternoon. A light, rose colour dusted her cheeks as she looked down at the floor for a moment. Then she lifted her chin and glared at the barkeep in his bright red patterned vest who continued to laugh.
“Ducks stuff,” he repeated with a wide grin shaking his head.
“I mean... Doc’s... stuff,” she enunciated carefully. Two painted ladies and a cigarette girl twittered at the end of the bar.
“That’s all right,” said a man as he walked into the room behind the ladies. He slicked back his graying hair and replaced his dark brown pancake hat. “I’m here now,” Doc said, walking around the curve of the bar towards the girl. “Leave her be,” Doc ordered the man in the checkered vest.
“Easy Father Time.” The man released his fingers from the bag and held up his hands. “Just razzin’ the tomato is all.”
The girl in the paisley dress was jarred back a step at the sudden release of the bag. Doc steadied her by the elbow before taking his seat on a red bar stool in front of a half-drained beer glass.
“Don’t give him no never mind,” said a moll dressed in the latest flapper fashion as she sashayed past checkered vest to stand beside Doc. “Ducky here can touch my stuff any time,” she chucked him under the chin.
“Mr. Bertrand wouldn’t like that too much,” Doc said with a lopsided grin before turning his attention back to the glass and tipping it up.
“That reminds me,” she gave Doc a playful pat, “I better get a move on. Bertie’s bringing his new jalopy by for a show.” All the men in the room watched her walk around the curve of the bar.
“Hey kiddo,” she threw over her shoulder. “When Bertie gets here, tell him I’ve gone to powder my nose.”
“Sh... sure, m... Miss Mattie.” The girl’s eyes still shone with adoration as she handed Doc back his black bag.
“Kid,” the barkeep pointed to the far end of the counter. “Don’t you have a date with a broom?” She scuffled over to where a straw broom leaned against the back storage room wall. The barroom’s back door swung open.
“B... Bertie!” The girl’s eyes lit back up as she bounced in place. “M... Miss Matie said to t... tell you sh... she’s gone to p... powder her nose.”
The dapper man in the three piece suit doffed his pancake hat and answered her smile with one of his own. “That right?”
She peered around him and gave a little squeal of delight. “Is ... is that it?”
He glanced behind him out the open back door. “Sure is.” He straightened up to his full height before he smiled down at her. “Drove it here straight off the factory lot.” He reached down and brought up the girl’s hand. Dangling a set of keys between two fingers, he dropped them in her palm and carefully closed her hand around them. He tilted his head in the car’s direction. “Go on. Bring my bag in.”
She raced out the door taking huge lunging strides.
“Don’t scratch the paint!” he yelled after her. Chuckling, he made his way along the bar nodding to the patrons. He paused long enough to make a brief bow to the three women stationed at the end of the bar. “Ladies.”
He continued on his way out the side door in search of Miss Mattie.
“Did ... did you see it Doc?” The girl asked as she wrestled a large suitcase in the back door.
“That’s the cat’s meow all right,” answered Doc before he took a long pull from his glass.
The suitcase bounced off her knees as she ganged her way along the bar to where Doc sat. There was a tinkling sound like a beer glass shattering on the floor. The man in the checkered vest made a quick bob then held aloft his prize.
The suitcase thumped to the floor. The girl charged at him reaching for the keys held in the air. “Bees needs them!” She wailed in a panicked voice.
“Bees knees!” hollered the barkeep before slapping his thigh and doubling over with laughter.
“Bees knees. Girl, don’t nobody know what you’re on about,” said one of the well-painted women in a satin dress at the end of the bar. The other woman and cigarette girl joined in her laugher.
“Bert... needs... those... keys,” enunciated the girl in the paisley dress. She crossed her arms and stamped an oversized black and white oxford shoe while favouring the man in the checkered vest with a glare.
“What’s all this about bees knees?” asked a sultry-voiced Miss Mattie coming though the side door arm and arm with Bert.
Miss Mattie paused as they walked around the corner of the bar and drew in an audible breath. “My, my, my,” she gasped looking out the back door. Slipping her arm from Bert’s, she sashayed over to the checkered vest man and held out her hand. He dropped the keys into her hand with a shrug and apologetic grin.
“Bee’s knees indeed,” Mattie breathed as she gazed out the back door. Then she smiled back at the well-dressed Bert. “Bee’s knees indeed,” she purred.
By Faye
Today I turn my mind to The Nest, Kenneth Oppel's latest opus (I like the ring of that). I am a friend of Ken's but, more importantly, I'm a fan of his work (Skybreaker and Silverwing being two of my favourites along with Half Brother). I'm often late to the bandwagon and this book definitely has a bandwagon: starred reviews galore, a glowing NY Times review, and general accolades and buzz (forgive the use of that word considering the book features magical wasps). It's completely deserving. It's one of those books that sneaks into your subconscious word by word and before you know it you are feeling those palpations of fear that you thought only Hitchcock could produce. Young Steve is the narrator of the story. His family is dealing with the arrival into the family of a child with an unknown cognitive disability. There are hospital visits and severe health complications to deal with. At about that same time Steve, after being bitten by a wasp, begins to be visited in his dreams by a wasp queen who promises to "help" with the baby. I won't say much more than that--other than you probably shouldn't accept the help of a wasp queen. This is spine tingling and skin crawling at its finest. But the book asks important (and disturbing) questions about what is normal. What would you do to "fix" a child with disabilities. As a father of a child with disabilities, this book nails those first weeks of angst and fear and not understanding why all of this happened and how to deal with it bang on. Read The Nest. Not just for the chills. But for the way the book makes you think.
