As part of this year's expanded Junior 12s Kids Club presented by Delta Dental of Washington, all members of the Seahawks' youth program will receive quarterly e-newsletters, the first of which launched Tuesday, October 25 and features digital and printable activities for kids, including a caption this photo exercise, color me animation, and word search, as well as information on past and upcoming Junior 12s Kids Club events.
Michael Bennett helps kick off the newsletter's initial issue, as the Seattle defensive end introduces a series called 'Bennett's Book End,' where he provides reading recommendations to Kids Club members.
"I thought it was cool to tell kids to be able to start encouraging reading, and who better to talk about it than me?" said Bennett, a father of three. "I love reading, I love reading to my kids. I just want to influence more people to take time out of their day to read to their kids and finding something that they like to read, or encourage them to try different books, or just read books together as a family."
Bennett puts two books on Kids Club members' radars, Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, and *Hey A.J., It's Saturday*, an interactive children's book put together by Michael's brother and New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and Martellus' production company.
"It was one of my favorite books growing up as a kid," Bennett said of *Hatchet, *which he recommends for Kids Club members grades five through eight. "I think a lot of people have read this book. It's a very good book about survival and having perseverance and having inspiration to survive a greater moment of your life that even though you think you can't survive, you end up surviving."
On *Hey A.J., It's Saturday, *a story about Bennett's niece, Austin Jet, Bennett adds: "My brother is the narrator on the book and it's a really cool experience because you get to hear him talk through the story that he created."
Look for more 'Bennett's Book End' reading recomendations to pop up in future Kids Club newsletters, and if you have a book tip for Bennett, feel free to e-mail KidsClub@Seahawks.com.
