7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #64: Featuring Barry Moser
May 25th, 2008 by jules
Edited to add on Sunday night: I say, since folks were so busy today on this holiday weekend, that we leave this post up for a bit longer. If you are so inclined, feel free to leave your kicks on Monday, too (which you’re always welcome to do anyway)! Happy Memorial Day to all . . .
Edited to add on Monday: For a beautiful Memorial Day “Dedication,” go read Sara’s original poem.
Jules: Well, howdy, friends. Put on your best bib and tucker, ’cause we’ve got art work from one ace-high illustrator this week, the one and only Barry Moser, whose woodblock-
engraving illustrations in last year’s Cowboy Stories (Chronicle Books; September 2007) are being featured today. I’ve had this book for a while and have been slowly enjoying it, particularly Moser’s highly dramatic, black-and-white illustrations — all line and shadow and heroism and wonder. Yes, this is a round-up of tales of the quintessential American icon, the cowboy — from authors such as Louis L’Amour, Annie Proulx, Dorothy M. Johnson, Elmore Leonard, and much more.
And one reason I’m sharing these images this week is that my father-in-law, a true cowboy at heart, had a bit of a spill this week — fell off a horse and broke some ribs. He’s going to be okay, but these images are for him and all the other cowboys and cowgirls who get right back up and get back on their horses—in more ways than one—after they’ve been thrown off.
Since I’m not done reading the book yet and if, for that reason, you won’t trust my opinion on how good this book is, take this excerpt from VOYA‘s review: “Page after page, cowboy after cowboy, the stories unfold like a bedroll on the Texas panhandle. This collection is an American cultural treasure.” It really is good stuff. The above illustration is from “A Buffalo Hunt,” a short autobiographical account offered up by legendary African American cowboy, Nat Love. He writes about a buffalo hunt (don’t fret, animal lovers. He writes, “it would have been an easy task to shoot them but that was not our idea of sport”), describing a “magnificent bull buffalo,” who proved to be too much for him and his fellow ropers.
The last two illustrations come from Stephen Crane’s “Twelve O’Clock” and E.C. “Teddy Blue” Abbott’s “Shallow Graves.”
Illustrations from COWBOY STORIES. Copyright © 2007. Illustration © 2007 by Barry Moser. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books. All rights reserved.
Many thanks to the publisher for sharing these images. They say Barry Moser does nary an interview, which bums me out, ’cause I’d love to Q & A with him (but I know interviews aren’t for everyone). And, hey, I just saw this and was surprised to read he was born in Chattanooga. Who knew? But aren’t these images great? It really is a handsome book, and there’s even this from ’06, which I’ve never seen. Anyway, before you ride off into the sunset today, we hope you’ll leave your kicks. We had some ourselves this week . . .
Oh, as a reminder, our weekly 7 Kicks list is the meeting ground for listing Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week—whether book-related or not—that happened to you, as well as a place to feature illustrators like Barry. You—yes, you reading now—are more than welcome to leave your kicks from the week, whether you’ve ever done so before or not.
1* THE SUN IS OUT! IT’S STILL UP THERE! Seriously, this is my first spring in Ithaca, and I have no idea if this is normal, but before Friday I hadn’t seen sunshine since April. It’s been about 50 degrees every day since April too, and the gray skies and constant threat of drizzly rain was getting boring.
2* Since we moved, we’ve been eyeballing certain pieces of furniture and various household items that we really don’t need or want anymore (Why do we have two toasters?), but now that we’ve downsized to one (tiny) car it’s kind of a hassle to take them to, say, the Salvation Army. Luckily, I found out about Cornell’s Dump & Run program, where through the month of May they set up donation sites and also perform pick-ups of whatever the students are leaving behind when they move out. Then, in the fall, they have a big sale (with new students presumably buying all the old student’s stuff) and donate the proceeds to local charities. So, I got them to come and take all our leftovers this week. Woo! Looky! I can actually see patches of bare floor!
3* I’ve been asked to stay on full-time at my current temp job for a couple more weeks at least.
4* I talked to a professor about possibly-maybe cataloging and organizing his department’s collection of books later this summer.
5* One of the departments I’ve temped for invited me to their end-of-year luncheon at a yummy French restauraunt, Dijon. Omigod, people, the frites! THE FRITES!!!
6* Also the CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH ESPRESSO WHIPPED CREAM!!!
7* On the ride over to the restaurant, I finally heard Duffy singing “Mercy.” Holy crap, how have I lived this long without her? Shall we just take a little dance break now? Yes, I think we shall:
I’m writing this early ’cause I’m heading out to the Berks this weekend to see the latest show my husband designed (and to escape Cornell’s graduation). Happy Memorial Day!
{Dance break over. That was fun.}
1). Seeing one of my best friends and her family, who all had to move away to West Virginia recently. She came to town this weekend, all last-minute, and surprised me. We met up at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. The Festival was fun, too, but four-year-olds in the hot sun, moping around asking repeatedly for ice cream and sitting way too far away from the jousting competition to even be able to see and whining instead is, um, not.
2). BUT . . . I did sign said four-year-old up for an art class this summer. A parent/child, summer sampler art class. Here! We get to play with paint and paper and clay and crayons—and more—for one week. WOOT! We’re gonna have so much fun!
3). Speaking of art . . . Daniel Pinkwater’s Bear’s Picture with illustrations by D.B. Johnson. I love me some D.B. Johnson art work, and then this story (which is from ’72, I believe, but has been re-illustrated)…well, it’s kickin’, my friends. It’s all about how just because you don’t see something in another person’s piece of art work doesn’t mean there isn’t something there. Lots of adults need to read this one, I think. So great. Anyone else read this? Could there have been a more perfect choice for illustrator (or re-illustrator, as the case may be).
4). The very fun splash pad/water park very close to us opened for the summer and we took a trip with the neighbor, whom I enjoy talking to, and her devastatingly cute kids.
5). Even more people came along this week at 7-Imp to continue discussing the crunchily thought-provoking E. Lockhart book with us — feminism, gender politics, class privileges, and more. Come on, you know you wanna join the conversation, too. Crunchy, juicy good stuff. These impassioned book discussions are the best part of blogging about books.
6). I meant to post about this last week: Jenny at the blog Red Hot Eyebrows totally went through the post Adrienne and I did about Slightly Demented Picture Books and decided to read all the titles! Even the ones left in comments by our readers. Here’s her post. How cool is that?
7). It’s Memorial Day weekend, and one thing it makes me think of is the very bad horror movie my friends in high school (including my brother) and I made on prom night when I was a junior (I think it was). Yup, we purposely ditched prom to make a painfully bad, low-budget, B-flick. I’m sure it’s only funny to us. It took us hours to build the costume for the “monster,” and the entire movie is, like, five minutes? We named it “Memorial Day,” since many horror movies are holiday-related (Halloween, Friday the 13th….uh, well, maybe not so many), and we thought that’d be hysterically funny. We were easily amused. But anyway, Tracy, this weekend is for you!
7½): Two words: Polly. Dunbar.
BONUS: This is a kick for all of us in the kidlitosphere who love Kelly!
ANOTHER BONUS: I have the perfect name for Susan’s next chicken. My daughters and I read “The Ugly Duckling” by Andersen this week (the annotated original — from here), and there’s a hen in there named Chickabiddy Shortlegs. It made us laugh out loud and brought Susan’s fowl to mind.
And here are two quick kidlitosphere-related announcements:
** The Cybils needs your help. Go read — and assist if you can.
** And any illustrators reading, by chance, might want to take note of this announcement from over at Just One More Book!! (Happy anniversary in advance to them!)
What are your kicks this week? Is anyone even around this holiday weekend? We hope so . . .
Hey Jules:
I got over not feeling kickish this long spring (for reasons related to Eisha’s #1, I think: a horrible winter followed by a spring where we just can’t catch any sun!!) to head over here because
1) My kid doesn’t have a brain tumor! And…I find it’s a bonus kick over here. Thanks 🙂 Your support and love in the kidlitosphere means a lot.
2) We bought tickets this week for 3 weeks overseas. We weren’t going to go because of the dollar and how horrible it is, but kick #1 and my parents’ changing travel schedules in the future (retiring, traveling in the off season after this year) made us decide to go anyway.
3) Students are GONE. I can wear pajamas everyday.
Well, those three things really sum everything up. If I could just get some sun and physiologically catch up with the good news in my life, everything will be grand.
HEEE! Memorial Day!!! Oh, that sounds like SO MUCH MORE FUN than any prom!!! How cool are you???
My kick is that next week at this time, I’ll be living someplace cool, and then three days later, I’m going back to the U.S. for a month. Plus, I shared a happy dance on the Bonus Kick! Whew!
Happy Long Weekend!
MY KICKS
1. The sun is out and it’s a glorious day. My husband and I are going to pick up some Vietnamese food and have dinner with two of our best friends on their beautiful boat in Marblehead Harbor.
2. The spring dinner meeting of our reading council on Wednesday was a smash! Janet Wong did a great presentation. Grace Lin came–so did my daughter and one of her best friends. We had a lot of fun.
3. I had a late breakfast with Janet and Grace and another friend on Thursday morning before Janet headed back home. We ate at Henrietta’s Table in Cambridge–and all ordered their famous red flannel hash. I got mine with poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.
4. My husband and I made plans to travel to New Mexico in late June for a relative’s wedding. We decided to spend nearly a week there to see the sights–and maybe go for a ride in a hot air balloon. (We took a balloon ride with our daughter when she was little. I loved it–even though I have a fear of heights.)
5. I’ve been making good progress on the poetry collection I began work on in April. I now have 17 poems.
6. I set the program for our council’s 2008-2009 Speaker Series. You can read who’s on the program here:
http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2008/05/pas-north-shore-council-speaker-series.html
7. I’m now past president of our council and will no longer be responsible for seeing to it that important forms are submitted to MRA and IRA by specific deadlines. I HATE paperwork!!! Thank heavens our new president helped me out with that stuff over the past three years. I am going to serve in a new board position as program chair. I’ll be responsible for making arrangements for our annual Speaker Series–which is something I’ve been doing for the last four years.
I’ve been trying to leave my 7Kicks–but WordPress won’t let me!
Kelly, if your three kicks are that great, you don’t need any more. I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been to wait on the doctor’s results, but I’m so glad it’s not a tumor. And travelling, too — that’s great news.
TadMack, YOU GOT IT! YOU GOT IT! Thanks for the link. I’m sorry, but that is just savagely, savagely cool…..may I move in? Got a guest room for an imp? Hee hee. CONGRATS!
I thought it would be quiet today, since it’s a holiday weekend, but the kicks from the two of you are plenty good. Thanks for coming over. Reading everyone’s kicks really do make my day, esp. when they’re this good.
Elaine, let me go see if spam snagged them….more in a minute.
Sorry about that, Elaine. If spam snags them, I always get an email notification, but for some reason, I didn’t. But I found ’em and liberated ’em.
So glad Janet’s presentation went well and that you all had such a good time and good dinner. In fact, all your kicks are particularly kickin’ — I’ve always wanted to travel in a hot air balloon, too. Sounds like fun. And congrats on the end of a term as president and a new one on the board. I don’t know how you find time to blog with all that you do.
Thanks for the link. Those are going to be some great presentations. Wish I could see them.
Have a great dinner with your friends tonight!
Wow, what great kicks evenone is having today. The woodcuts are very cool and forboding at the same time.
Eisha, espresso whipped cream? I want some of that! Jules, loved the slightly demented children’s books post.
My kicks:
1. Laini and I found a hotel we think. You want to visit here for the details of the Kidlitosphere Bloggig Conference 08. http://kidlit08.blogspot.com/ We actually have people signed up already.
2. I got accepted to share my love of poetry as a writer’s workshop in class rooms with teachers for the first annual summer literacy conference in my district.
3. Very productive meeting with the admiistration regarding the poorly written procedures regarding book challenges. The recent one was a fiasco.
4. Friday and Saturday with good friends who moved to the Washington coast. A perfect day yesterday of sun and no eind. Today it is raining.
5. Four day weekend. Time to really relax.
6. Counting down the school days:17 days left.
7. Getting a pedicure tomorrow.
Have a great week.
It was such a kick to have people read my blog that weren’t related to me by blood or marriage! Gave me a fun thrill for the week.
Oh, and I just finished another round of Slightly Demented Picture Books, but they weren’t nearly as good as the first set. Except for Hungry Hen. Awesome!
Okay, now I HAVE to get some more chickens so I can name one Chickabiddy Shortlegs. Thank you for the very valid excuse, Jules.
Kicks
1. Finally, some beautiful weather.
2. Swordfish on the grill tonight.
3. The third-grade square dance. A real hoot to watch.
4. One of my first-grade reading buddies picked up “Big Chickens Fly the Coop,” which I had been planning to read to her and another student, and said, “I want to read this to you!” AND SHE DID.
5. Wisteria was in bloom earlier this week.
6. The Siberian irises bloomed.
7. A three-day weekend. Yay.
Jone, WAHOO for kick #2. They’re gonna love you. And what are your big summer plans, now that the year’s almost over?
Hi, Jenny! I have Hungry Hen on hold at the library. As you know, Adrienne loved it and said it was a big hit at story time, so I can’t wait to see it. Oh, and at this post, illustrator Kelly Murphy shares that The San Francisco Chronicle gave a favorable review to Hush, Little Dragon (which is in the Slightly Demented Picture Books list), calling it “‘Sweeney Todd’ for the sandbox set.” How great is that?
Susan, I wanna see a third-grade square dance. May I crash the next one? Man, you just made me remember classroom square-dancing as a kid. I had forgotten all about that.
Hey, ya’ll. I just got back, and it’s lovely to sit down after a long drive and read everybody’s kicks before I turn in.
Kelly, oh, Kelly, I am so very very glad to hear about your son. Also, yay for pajamas every day!
TadMack, GET OUT! That is beautiful! How about room for 2 Imps?
Elaine, congrats on keeping the cool part of your duties and shoving the paperwork off on someone else. And have fun in that hot air balloon!
Jone, thank you and Laini for all the work you’re doing for the Kidlit Conference II. It sounds like it’s going to be excellent.
Jenny, your blog’s title cracks me up.
Susan, yay for your first grade reader. And also for 3rd grade square dances. In my school, we even had to learn a bit of clogging. ‘Cause, you know… Tennessee.
When I attempted to reply yesterday, the computer I was on highlighted everything, so I couldn’t scroll and read and respond as I am accustomed to doing. I’m on the same computer now, so I’ll have to come back and truly catch up on everyone’s posts/comments later this week. For now, I’ll say pen and ink makes me happy, but admittedly I’m not a Western aficionado, and that I hope you are all doing well.
My kicks:
1) Meeting three great people face-to-face
2) Seeing talent recognized on a grand scale
3) Getting a positive long-distance phone call
4) Being given a shiny object
5) Accepting kindness
6) Making new sites for other people
7) Writing
Little Willow, thanks for visiting, even though you were on a funky computer. I’m glad you had a kick-y week. Shiny objects, kindness, and happy long-distance phone calls are all good.
Speaking of prom, if anyone is willing to email me JPGs of their prom pictures, I need ’em by the end of this week (ideally, sooner) to go with a roundtable discussion of Laurie Halse Anderson’s book PROM. Hmm, maybe I’ll go post about this at my blog – running over there now, posting, POSTED! – so leave me comments/links/pictures over there if any of you are willing! 🙂
Kelly: YAY for your son. YAY for your family. Yay for you and your students, for another successful year. YAY FOR YOUR SON SOME MORE AND MORE AND MORE.
Elaine: Sounds like good food, folks, and poetry.
Jone: Good luck with the convention this fall, and congrats on the poetry/event acceptance AND the rewriting of challenges.
Jules: I just pictured Sweeney Todd as a youngin, actually IN the sandbox. (I’d still be safe, as I never liked the sandbox. Uh, it’s DIRTY.)
eisha: Keep the dance break goin’! Rockin’ and rollin’ and whatnot. Go Duffy.