7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #343: Featuring Bruce Eric Kaplan
August 11th, 2013 by jules
Last week at Kirkus, I wrote about Bruce Eric Kaplan’s Cousin Irv from Mars (Simon & Schuster, June 2013). This book makes me laugh, and I say much more about it at that Kirkus link, which is here.
Today, I’ve got some art from the book.
I wrote here (back in 2010) about Kaplan’s last picture book, Monsters Eat Whiny Children (also Simon & Schuster, 2010), also wonderfully demented and funny.
I’m glad he makes picture books.
Enjoy the art below.
COUSIN IRV FROM MARS. Copyright © 2013 by Bruce Eric Kaplan. Published by Simon & Schuster, New York. Illustration used with permission of the publisher.
Note for any new readers: 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on 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. New kickers are always welcome.
I know this is, quite possibly, the shortest kicks post ever, but my kicks ONE to SEVEN today are that the grad course I taught this summer (on picture books) is complete, and I really enjoyed the course and the students.
And the reason this post is so short is ’cause I gotta get back to grading papers!
What are YOUR kicks this week?
This book looks great! And your kick is deserving of having seven spots all to itself, Jules. Congrats!
1. My cuddly baby of course. Not sure how I will resist putting this as kick number one every week.
2. The meals my nice family keep dropping around for us
3. Gorgeous winter weather – sunny mild days and cold nights. OK I could live without the cold nights when I’m up feeding at odd hours, but the sunny days are great!
4. We had the rehearsal for my sister’s wedding next weekend – getting excited!
5. Have you guys played geoguessr? You get a random google location and have to guess where you are in the world. Great fun if geography is your favourite trivial pursuit category.
6. Enjoying lots of episodes of Parks and Recreation
7. Take-away sushi today for the first time since I found out I was pregnant. Yum!
This looks like a fun book that we can relate to with our parade of company in the summer.
Jules-Congrats on the course. Will you be doing it again?
emmaco- Eleven and a half years later I want to put my cuddly baby as my #1 kick. I’m glad to hear you are both doing well.
kicks
1. My cuddly babies.
2. My cuddly husband who is taking time off to hang with the kids so they get a break from Camps.
3. My sister who had surgery earlier in the week and was on the phone joking around with me a couple days later.
4. a little bit of time in the studio
5. The beach always brings me peace.
6. Fun times with my book club ladies.
7. Breaking Bad… T O N I G H T!
Emmaco! So glad your family is keeping you fed, since early parenthood is a lot like boot camp. We will be fine with you having the baby as kick #1 every week. …. Congrats to your sister! Have never played geoguesser, but I’ll try. p.s. I had sushi last night, too.
Moira: The course is supposed to be every other summer, unless there’s a huge demand for it. … Glad your sister is healing and that you had peaceful beach time …. I AM SO EAGER TO SEE BREAKING BAD, BUT I DO NOT HAVE CABLE. I have to wait till tomorrow night, when it will be rent-able. I shall have to avoid all social media tomorrow.
I swear, I’ve never. been. so. curious. to see how a show’s going to end. Having tried to watch some new shows that I thought were CLUNKERS has helped me appreciate Breaking Bad even more.
Enjoy watching tonight!
p.s. Moira: I listened to this yesterday, which is a great interview: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/209222363/bob-odenkirk-brings-some-laughs-to-breaking-bad
I heard a bit of that interview on my lunch break. I am not reading or listening to any cast and crew interviews because I don’t want even the slightest spoiler.
Too bad you can’t just swing by an watch it with us. I have the kettle corn ready.
Good thing it’s such a beautiful day to keep me distracted until tonight.
I’m totally making popcorn, too.
TOMORROW night. Sad face here.
(Heh. Listen to me and my First World Whining.)
Hi all, I love space creatures, Cousin Irv looks like a terrific book.
Jules, congrats on your course being complete.
Emmaco, congrats on baby arriving.
Moira, eek I stiil have some seasons of Breakinh Bad to catch up
I am in southern Cslifornia. That’s about kicks 1-7 for me. Friends, family, beach and Disneyland all so good.
Have a great week.
Good morning, Imps!
Bruce Eric Kaplan: That’s some funny stuff. Thank you for sharing.
Jules: Congratulations, teach! 🙂
emmaco: Hola to your family! 🙂 I’ve seen someone playing that geography game.
Moira: Sending healing vibes to your sister.
My kicks from the past week:
1) Audition
2) Keeping cool (calm)
3) Veggies
4) Catching up with friends
5) Catching up on sleep
6) Consideration
7) Writing.
Jone: Enjoy the vacation! When does school start? The girls go TOMORROW.
Little Willow: Break a leg at the audition (AND with the writing) …
Jules: Happy back-to-school time to your girls, and to anyone reading this who is (or who has a member of their household) going back to school this week! The audition yesterday was such fun.
Hello, Kickers!
Not only is Bruce Eric Kaplan a New Yorker cartoonist (one of my favorites); not only has he done these apparently wonderful kids’ books; he also, back in the ’90s, was a writer for Seinfeld. Indeed, he was the one who wrote the classic episode about the inscrutability of some New Yorker cartoons. (I think Elaine ended up drawing and captioning her own cartoon — something about a pig, maybe? — and trying to convince them to run it.) Kaplan’s story about that is recounted here, at the blog of the magazine’s cartoon editor Bob Mankoff.
Jules, I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s always made me laugh when people who’ve never taught school grumble about the easy life teachers lead. That said, may this summer’s gift to you soon stop giving already. 🙂
Hi, emmaco! I bet your baby is not only cuddly but well-cuddled as well. As for Geoguessr, it was the subject of a funny single-panel cartoon at the xkcd webcomic site (which is VERY popular among science nerds, computer geeks, and such, if anyone here knows any such people). If you follow that link, be sure to hover your mouse cursor over the image to read the “pop-up” title/caption.
Moira, sounds like you’re having such a great summer!
Have continued fun in SoCal, jone. I’m kind of a Pacific Northwesterner-from-a-past-life, myself, so very comfortable with cloudy skies, fog and mist, evergreen rain forests and such. But The Missus has brought me grudgingly around to the virtues of an occasional bout of sun and sand and saltwater. 🙂
Hey there LW. You’ve always got such great kicks — they’re like looking at a Where’s Waldo? spread through a sheet of paper with random, Waldo-sized holes cut in it, so they suggest TONS more of life than they reveal. I think my favorite this week is #6, for the breadth of meanings packed into that single word.
Kicks here…
1. Tom Cruise’s recent SF-action film, Oblivion, did not suck eggs as I’d feared it might. And it was complex enough to make for interesting post-flick conversation.
2. New computers at home and work finally settling down. Sorta kinda.
3. My two sisters spent several days together in Boston this week. Of course it would’ve been great if my brother and I could have been there with them; even so, I love vicariously that they had a lot of fun and a lot of good talks.
4-7. New hearing aids. I get new ones every 3 years or so. Generally, my approach is always (for the last 10 years, thereabouts): I want the BEST, if I can afford them. It’s very hard to say what “the best” is, but on average is always comes out to cost $2.5-3K. (And no, insurance doesn’t cover, has NEVER covered, any of that, with pretty much any employer except maybe Google… Sore subject.) You’d think the price would drop, as with most electronics. The thing is, in 3 years’ time the electronics themselves are SO MUCH improved. So I’ve had these only for about 48 hours but am already knocked out by them. Some complicated noise situations upcoming, so we’ll see. But very optimistic.
Have a great week, everyone!
Been a daily follower of Jules’ blog but never posted. But was so interested in JES ‘s hearing aids comments. My son (26) has had hearing aids since he was 2 and gets new ones every 5 or so years . Curious as to what kind your new ones are (his have always been Starkey and currently he has the tiny inner ear ones).
Susan, I don’t want to hijack 7-Imp for a side conversation but email me at john AT johnesimpson DOT com for details.
John, I can always rely on you for interesting fun facts! I had no idea he was a Seinfeld writer. Huh. Thanks for the link to that story.
I LOVE HOW YOU DESCRIBED LITTLE WILLOW’S KICKS. It’s so perfect.
Glad you liked Oblivion and told us that, too. I will add it to the ol’ queueueue now. (Well, it’s probably not out yet, but you know what I mean.) Yay for kick #2! And I’m happy to read the hearing aids are kick-ass (and happy that you and Susan will connect — hello, Susan!). I’m sorry, however, that they’re so costly. Let us know how the complicated noise situations turn out. BEST OF LUCK!
An inspiring post! I’m going to complete my job school application AND finish up my latest post too! (:
It would be a treat to have the opportunity to take a course from you! I’m glad your first stab at it went well. -Amy
My brain is too mushy to reply to all these lovely kicks, but wanted to thank JES for the XKCD rec – I have long been a fan of this comic so would like to second it for the groups John suggested 🙂
Thanks, Amy. It was fun. …. And do you mean you’re applying for a job? If so, best of luck!
Thanks, Emmaco. Now, go take a nap — whenever you possibly can!