From Captain Kangaroo to Stephen King

The question of the week is: Which celebrity do you wish would hold up one of your published books on a national stage (or TV) and say, “Hey, everybody should read this!”?

I am not someone who is in awe of celebrities. I know they all have foibles. Although I am somewhat in awe of everyone I meet. Every person. Everyone else has something within them that I don’t have. That isn’t to say that I love them all; I just admire the capabilities which I seem to lack.

But other people listen to celebrities. However, most of those I could come up with this week might have a teensy problem:
most of them are dead.

As for my poetry, I’d love for Walt Whitman or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to endorse me, but that won’t happen. I can’t come up with a modern poet who is a ‘celebrity’ and would enjoy my lines.

For my serious story, I would have been beyond thrilled to Stephen Vincent Benet or Robert Louis Stevenson, (who could also have supported my poetry). Alas, they are no more.

I have one completed a rhyming children’s story and I would LOVE to have had Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo, read it and record it. It has a Christmas theme and I’d love to have had him do it much like “The Littlest Snowman with the Red Candy Heart” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugx7p5UPHYs.

For those of you who did not have the joy in their childhood to watch Captain Kangaroo, particularly in the 1960s, here is a look at the man, who left us in 2004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EW3r-Sgkq8

I have one novel, (which I have put off completing, don’t ask me why, I think of it nearly all the time. My biggest problem is that I have several stories going at once; picking one to sit down and finish is a problem for me). But, who to endorse it? Is it a romance? There is the question. There are several couples and others involved. It is not as deep as the novels of Liane Moriarty or the better works of Cecelia Ahern, but those authors are good, famous and very much alive. (Please don’t judge their writings by movies and shows, either.)

There are a few supernatural stories; they are not as intense as Stephen King’s work, but he’s still with us and a great writer .If you judge his writing by the movies made of his works, please don’t. If you don’t have time or access to his works, his short stories are on YouTube, and some are read by the man himself. He could do a pitch for me any day.

I have one with a real twist and who better than Alfred Hitchcock to endorse me? Maybe Graham Greene, (the writer, not the actor, although the actor is a great talent). Again, both gone. However, since it is based on the real events of one night when my niece and I went to a book signing, I could ask the author we went to see, Mary Janice Davidson. Besides being a NYT bestselling author, she is very open and kind to her fans.  Although she is an international best seller, I don’t know how readily recognizable she may be.

Some have already mentioned Oprah and her book list; Kelly Ripa also has a list, and getting on either one would certainly bump sales skyward.

Politics or lifestyles aside, I’d pick Sean Bean, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, because gosh, they are well worth looking at. To sell to men, maybe I’d get Allyssa Milano, Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz.

Never mind.

As I finished typing the lists, I realized that it probably wouldn’t help sales since the men and women will be looking at my celebs and paying no attention to my stories!