7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #594: Featuring Susan L. Roth
July 8th, 2018 by jules
“Midnight! And the bells are ringing! …”
(Click to enlarge spread)
Here’s a new poetry collection, dear Imps, all about various holidays around the world that celebrate the mark of a new year — Every Month Is a New Year: Celebrations Around the World (Lee & Low Books, May 2018). Though in the U.S. we celebrate in January, many other countries don’t. Here, the acclaimed poet Marilyn Singer shares sixteen new year celebrations all over the globe, both religious and secular, and they are accompanied by Susan L. Roth’s eye-popping mixed-media collage illustrations.
Bookended by two poems featuring the sun and the moon, Singer takes us from the United States to Spain with many stops in between — Scotland, Russia, China, Iran, Thailand, Jordan, New Zealand, Chile, ancient Egypt, India, Ethiopia , and Ecuador. The poems, which flow from December to January, feature families joining together to share in their cultural and religious traditions, the book vertically-oriented as if a wall calendar. For American children who assume everyone marks a new year in January, this will be eye-opening and educational. Singer’s verse is reverent and detailed, and the book is appended by a note on calendars; a list of new year’s greetings in various languages; further information about each celebration; a glossary and pronunciation guide; and a list of sources. This is backmatter that means business.
Roth’s layered, detailed collages were made by papers she collected all over the world (according to the book’s art note). There is a vibrancy and joy coming from these pages, as no matter when you mark a new year, it’s a time of promise and hope.
Pictured here today are the book’s first three spreads. They happen to mark celebrations in December and January, so maybe they will help us feel cooler in this hot July month. …
“Tonight, / hand in hand with / Grandma, I stand in the /
middle of this merry, loud crowd / waiting …”
(Click to enlarge spread)
“The fir tree is up …”
(Click to enlarge spread)
EVERY MONTH IS A NEW YEAR: CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. Text copyright © 2018 by Marilyn Singer. Illustrations © 2018 by Susan L. Roth and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Lee & Low Books, New York.
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.
1) Writing.
2) Projects like this. (Thanks to Little Willow for the link.)
3) The new issue of the Horn Book, which has a piece Travis Jonker and I wrote about the year (2017) in picture book art.
4) Validation!
5) Kind offers.
6) Getting past the very last part of the big home-repair project.
7) This new album.
What are YOUR kicks this week?
Hi Imps! Hi Susan! I like when people find hope in the new year or any days/dates that are special to them. Recently, I’ve been making a point to celebrate on the first of the month.
Jules: You’re welcome re: your second kick and #cardsforkids – Good art from good hearts.
My kicks from the past week:
1) My own pace
2) Catching up to myself
3) Great minds think alike
4) Balance
5) Simple
6) Unflustered
7) Smooth
I am getting this book this week. It’s perfect.
Jules, yay for writing and kind offers.
LW, checking out the writing cards link.
My kicks:
1. Waking to news that 6 of 12 boys have been rescued.
2. Breakfast with friends.
3. Being asked to participate in a wedding ceremony.
4. Breakfast today with a student and dad.
5. Traveling.
6. Coming home.
7. Sunshine
Have a great week.
LW: I like your delightfully cryptic first two kicks. They are a good match, too.
Jone: Hope you had beautiful travels. How does it feel to be retired? And, yes, such good news about those boys.
What lovely art this week!
Jules – I am with you on the Validation kick- yay coffee! Hang in there on the home repair project, and the card project is something I will definitely be sharing.
LW – Love your first and second kick so so much. I read your last kick as “smoosh” and thought of soft dog smooshy faces, but hope your kick pertains to smooth sailing, or other such smoothness.
Jone – breakfast with friends, travels and returning home, sunshine, all sounds like a lovely week.
My kicks:
1) World Cup – got up early Saturday to watch England win, the games have been very exciting.
2) Saw “Coco” and loved it so much.
3) In keeping with memories of those who are gone, I stumbled across this poem, which reminded of the times I took my mom to chemo and after shopping/running errands would return to sit with her til it was done: http://www.tupeloquarterly.com/my-mother-describes-chemo-for-andy-warhol-by-d-gilson/
4) Made an icebox cake for the 4th with blueberries and raspberries, and was able to use a bunch of raspberries from my own garden.
5) Read Jesmyn Ward’s “Sing, Unburied, Sing” and am gobsmacked with how sad and beautiful and amazing it is. It was too rich to read in one sitting, and I am glad I spread it out over the week to absorb.
6) Watched “National Treasure” on the 4th, good silly fun, and there is one section that always gets me, especially right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he2jDZkzgiM
7) Got a hammock, and Daisy decided it was for her, so she climbed in it with me, which was very funny. That dog makes me laugh every day.
7.5) A moment in the garden with my coffee – there were finches on the finch birdfeeder, a monarch butterfly passed through, a hummingbird flitted by my shoulder, bees were in the flowers, and a woodpecker was on one of the apples trees.
Have a wonderful week Imps!
Jules and Rachel: Thanks! I definitely like correlations.
Rachel: 🙂 Speaking of smoosh, I love that Daisy decided the hammock was for her. Because it was, of course. Hello to those wondrous garden visitors!
Oh, Rachel. That poem. It’s something else. … I’ve never seen National Treasure, so thanks for that moment of it. … I LOVE YOUR LAST KICK.
Have a good week, you all!
Thanks for the lovely piece on Susan’s and my book! My kicks:
1. Swing-dancing at a sock hop in CT
2. Getting kissed by my pup every time I come home from anywhere
3. Getting kissed by my husband every time I come home from anywhere
4. Male cardinal singing his song
5. Queer Eye and British Baking Show on TV
6. Time to read and nap
7. This review!
Hi, Marilyn! Those are some kicky kicks, especially all the kisses. Also, naps. Always naps.
Thanks for making yet another spectacular book to get into the hands of children.