What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Eva Lindström

h1 August 4th, 2017 by jules



 

This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got new August picture books that celebrate creative thinkers and problem-solvers and out-of-the-box thinkers of many types. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Eva Lindström’s My Dog Mouse (Gecko, August 2017), originally published in New Zealand in 2015 and translated by Julia Marshall. Today here at 7-Imp, I have some art from the book. (Some of these colors are a bit off, FYI. They’re slightly brighter than they appear in the book.)

Until Sunday …



 


“‘Can I take Mouse for a walk?’ I ask, and I’m always allowed. We set off, very slowly. Mouse walks at a snail’s pace. He stops at lampposts and fences and sniffs for a long time. Sometimes he looks up at me and then I usually say something. I maybe say something like ‘old man’ in a very nice voice, not my usual one.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“He’s old and fat with ears as thin as pancakes. His walk is a kind of waddle and
he’s always pleased to see me.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“At the park, I take off his collar. We sit there on the grass and eat our picnic.
It’s the usual, and Mouse helps himself to mine, too,
while I look carefully at a particular cloud.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“It starts to blow. We walk into the wind and we seem to be standing still but I think we’re moving. All sorts of things are flying around. Mouse’s ears flap like flags and
he shuts his eyes to keep out the sand. I hold tight to the leash.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Did it go well? That’s what Mouse’s owner asks. I say that it went very, very well.
She says thank you and takes the leash and Mouse follows her inside.
I stand there till I can’t see him anymore.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 

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MY DOG MOUSE. Text and illustrations © Eva Lindström 2016. English language edition © Gecko Press Ltd 2017. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher.





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