Calling all Chicken Soup lovers… Kevin Sorbo wants your stories!

Chicken Soup for the Soul, that is. Please see below for information as to how to get your stories published in a new book that Kevin is working on and donate much-needed funds to his foundation, A World Fit For Kids! How cool is that?!

****REVISED****

Looking for stories to help kids be heroes and also to benefit A World Fit for Kids!

Submission deadline is June 30, 2013.

Book goes on sale in October, 2013.

After the success of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, our bestselling book for adults, we decided to make a version for children, too. We have teamed with Kevin Sorbo, who is not only a successful actor, known to many as the hero, Hercules, but is also the spokesperson and chair for A World Fit for Kids!, a successful mentoring program that trains teens to become heroes to the kids in their own neighborhoods by using the vehicles of school, fitness, sports and positive role models. The program is unique because of the powerful format of “kids teaching kids,” and its success rate is astounding! Working with more than 12,000 children in the Los Angeles School District, it has a 100% graduation rate in a school system that has a 54% dropout rate.

Bringing positive messages to kids at all socioeconomic levels in all kinds of schools is of paramount importance in a fast-paced world filled with technology and choices, temptations and challenges for children. Now, more than ever, it’s important for parents, grandparents, teachers and other mentors to sit down with kids, get quiet, and talk. And one of the best ways to start a conversation with a child is by reading a story about another child first.

That’s the goal of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Kids–to start conversations with children about core values, good examples, making good decisions, and having the courage to do the right thing. The values that children learn today will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We hope to contribute to the building blocks that create tomorrow’s wonderful young adults through this book for today’s children.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Kids will contain 101 stories that tell stories about issues that are important to children. It is geared for children 12 years of age and under. The stories can be read to younger children, read by older children, and discussed with adults. The stories will be personal anecdotes that are entertaining and also impart a lesson. For example, someone might write about that summer at camp when she got up the courage to invite an unpopular girl to her house, even though other girls made fun of her for doing it. Or someone might write about the time he found a $10.00 bill on the ground and turned it in to the teacher instead of keeping it, and was glad that he did because there was a new immigrant crying because she had lost that bill and it was her family’s money for dinner that night.

The stories can be just plain fun as well. Someone might write about the time that he spent a month practicing saying, “hello,” to a girl and then she said, “hello,” back and it was all worth it. That kind of story can help a lot of kids, too, as they wrestle with private social dramas.

Stories should be written in a way that kids can understand, but contributors do not need any special ability to write for children. Just focus on one theme per story, keep the message clear, and don’t talk down to kids or try to use “cool” language–they see right through that. We’d like to keep stories in the 500-1200 word range.

We are looking for stories from your own childhood, or about children you know, written in the first person, that both entertain and educate children, and that expose them to positive thinking and good values. These stories will show children how to make good choices… even when no one is looking, how to respect the needs and feelings of others, how to develop their own self-esteem, and how to stay true to their convictions. The stories will remind kids that each day holds something to be grateful for and show them that they are not alone in dealing with difficult issues.

Some of the themes and issues we want to address are:

• Bullying
• Relationships with friends and family
• Divorce
• Moving
• Crushes and relating to the opposite sex
• Self-acceptance
• Helping others
• Being different
• Physical and mental disabilities
• Following rules
• “Telling” on someone when it will help them
• Doing the right thing even when it’s hard
• How it feels to do the right thing

We are not planning to include stories that might be too mature for younger readers, such as stories about abuse. We are also a “Santa safe” company–we keep the magic alive for all our readers.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $200.00 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $100.00. You will retain the copyright for your story, and you will retain the right to resell it.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO: http://chickensoup.com

Please indicate with your submission that you are a Kevin Sorbo fan… You might just go to the front of the line!

Select the “Submit Your Story” link on the left tool bar and follow the directions: http://www.chickensoup.com/form.asp?cid=submit_story

The deadline for story submissions is June 30, 2013, with the book going on sale in October 2013.

Here’s the link to order Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Kids:

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Decisions-Self-Esteem/dp/161159927X

(Image left courtesy of Kevin Sorbo; image right courtesy of Chicken Soup for the Soul)

Donate to Kevin Sorbo’s Birthday Project and help save lives!

Yes, it’s that time of year when we, Kevin’s fans, wonder what to get the Big Guy who has everything… or we think he has everything… for his 39^th birthday (again) on September 24.

Our greatest gift is the gift of life that keeps on giving in the form of a donation to the Official European Kevin Sorbo Fan Club (OEKSF) annual Birthday Project benefiting Kevin’s foundation, A World Fit For Kids! (WFIT).

As many of you know, WFIT has had a special place in Kevin’s heart since 1997 when he was approached by Normandie Nigh, WFIT’s CEO, to help raise funds for the Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that combats childhood obesity, provides positive role models, and promotes teen mentoring. WFIT has positively impacted the lives of over 200,000 youth through its healthy behaviors and youth development programs in communities with some of the highest obesity rates and lowest high school graduation rates in Los Angeles, according to its website.

Every amount counts to save the lives of these beautiful children who might otherwise have no hope, obtain no job or life skills, need help with learning, and/or fall through the cracks of an uncaring educational or government system that only recognizes numbers, not potential. We need you!

Won’t you please help?

Here’s how to donate:

 Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/OeksfcBirthdayproject2013

Contact us here:

http://www.kevin-sorbo.com/impressum.html

 

And once again the OEKSFC is offering for you to sign their beautifully-designed Birthday Book to Kevin for free!

Please add your birthday wishes here:

http://www.kevin-sorbo.com/birthdaybook_2013.html

Both projects will close on September 28, 2013!

 

So, please consider donating, and share, share, share this post!

Many thanks from me, the OEKSFC team, Kevin and WFIT.

Let’s make this year Kevin’s best birthday ever! Yeah!!!

(Photo left courtesy of Kevin Sorbo; banner courtesy of OEKSFC)

Kevin Sorbo receives fan-made Andromeda cross-stitch

Kevin’s fans are so creative in many ways from painting and computer art to writing and crafts. This lovely story is from Pilar in Spain, who sent it quite a while ago, and who made an amazing cross-stitch for Kevin. My humblest apologies for posting it so late, Pilar. Enjoy!

In January, 2011, my good friend, Teresa, asked me to make an artwork by using the cross-stitch so she could offer it to her idol, Kevin Sorbo, at the Film Festival in Estepona, Spain, in September, 2011.

She asked me to do it by using the ship of Kevin’s (television) series, “Andromeda,” so, I did it, and wrote “Sorbo/Hunt” on it.

Please take a look at Kevin holding it:

http://recuerdosyregalosenpuntodecruz.blogspot.com/2011/09/ampliando-horizontes.html

For me it feels so good being able to show you the photo right now. I’m very grateful to Teresa for it – it gives me great pleasure looking at my artwork in its owner’s hands.

Here’s Pilar’s beautiful work:

Kevin Sorbo May calendars… Extra Yummy!

Hi, everyone, so sorry that I missed the past two months of calendars. But, here are the extra yummy ones for May from our great artists Loli, Sanne and Mara. Thanks, ladies!

Kevin Sorbo’s “Shadow on the Mesa” – A Good Old-Fashioned Western!

Greetings, everyone, I am trying so diligently to catch up with your excellent stories and artwork. My humblest apologies for my tardiness. Please don’t be offended if I post some stuff out of order… I’m just trying to keep up with Kevin, and as we all know, he is an amazingly busy guy!

To that end, here is Rhonda’s review of Kevin’s excellent film, “Shadow on the Mesa.”  I think the artwork is from our good friend Malena, but I’m not sure.

Without further adieu, here is Rhonda’s review:

“Shadow on the Mesa” – A Good Old-Fashioned Western!

I grew up watching westerns, and Kevin’s latest (film), “Shadow on the Mesa,” took me back to those days in a big way. Kevin doesn’t play the hero here, although he is a good guy by Western (film) standards, his character, Ray Eastman, is a rancher fighting to keep his land.

The man who wants it, Peter Dowdy, played superbly by Greg Evigan, is in cahoots with Ray’s wife, Mona (played by Gail O’Grady), to achieve his goal. Things take a shocking turn when a young bounty hunter, Wes Rawlins (Wes Brown), shows up at the ranch with news that will stun Ray – (that) his first wife, Mary, who he believed had been dead for 30 years, had been alive until her recent murder.

At first, Ray thinks this is some sort of con game until Wes shows him the locket he gave Mary years earlier. Later, as the war for Ray’s land heats up, he learns that Wes is the son he never knew he had. Wes joins up with Ray and his two new-found siblings, Chuck and Rosalie, to defend their land.

Without giving too much away, you can look for an old-fashioned shoot out.

I really loved Kevin’s performance here, especially when Ray finds out that Wes is his son. The emotions he showed were extremely powerful and illustrated the love he had for Mary and his regret that he never got to be a father to Wes as he was to his two other children. However, as Wes gets to know his father and siblings, he comes to appreciate and love them, although he never actually said it.

Of the three westerns Kevin has done, this is the first one where he doesn’t ride a horse or wagon. Ray was thrown by a horse and ended up with a bum leg, so he limps most of the time. The frustration at not being able to defend his land and his family more than he does shows on his face. I thought it was quite comical when Mona called her husband, “Old Man,” and he responded by saying, “I’ll still have a few good years left in me, woman,” or something close to that. I think it was evidence of the chemistry between Kevin and Gail… the two had known each other for a long time and worked together very well.

This story and the characters were very believable, and gave us a look into what people of that day had to endure to keep their homes and family together. If you get the chance to see it, you will enjoy it very much.

Please see the following for more information:

http://www.hallmarkmoviechannel.com/hmc/shadowonthemesa

http://www.kevinsorbo.net/mesa.htm