Mondays with Mike: Itty Bitty Benetti

Last December, Beth posted here about a couple of children’s books she wrote for a series on disabilities sponsored by Easterseals. She penned two of the books: “What is the Americans with Disabilities Act?” (2^nd-5^th grades) and “Service Dogs” (3^rd grade). They turned out great and besides being distributed by Easterseals chapters and other agencies, they’re available from Cherry Lake Press and at Target.com.

Well, Beth did well enough that Cherry Lake Press—the publisher in the partnership—asked her to write another book, this in their “Itty Bitty Bio” series. True to its name, each book is a brief, digestible biography aimed at young readers. In this case, Beth and other authors with disabilities were asked to identify a role model with a disability, and to craft an “Itty Bitty Bio” on that person.

Beth chose Jason Benetti, the terrific play-by-play  announcer for the Chicago White Sox. That’s his day job—but he moonlights as a national announcer for multiple sports on Fox Sports, too.

Benetti was born with Cerebral Palsy, nearly died, had umpteen surgeries, has a limp, a wandering eye, a strong baritone voice and he’s absolutely fantastic at his job. So Beth picked a good one.

Fortunately, he was generous enough to do a Zoom interview with Beth, and a few days ago we received advance copies of “Jason Benetti: My Itty Bitty Bio.” It’s cute as hell.

As of August 1, you can purchase it from Cherry Lake Press, or from Target.com.

For a good explanation of the books, check out this TV interview with a representative of Easterseals MORC on the Detroit CBS affiliate:

Finally, FYI: Benetti is remarkably honest and insightful about what it means to achieve what he’s achieved while having a disability–and he teamed with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation to do a creative and thoughtful animated series called Awkward Moments with Jason Bennetti. Check it out below: