7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #614: Featuring Jonathan Auxier

Over at Kirkus about two weeks ago, I chatted here with author Jonathan Auxier about his novel Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster (Amulet, September 2018). When I write about picture books over at Kirkus, I always do follow-up posts here at 7-Imp with lots of art, so you’d think there’d be no Sweep follow-up post, seeing as how it’s a novel without any illustrations. But I do have art! Jonathan is sharing his journal sketches, ones he made during the course of writing this book, which you know (if you’ve read it) is a novel that has been many years in the making. You also know, if you’ve read it, that Jonathan has been fascinated with and drawing golems since the age of 19, when he lived for some time in the Czech Republic. (Those older drawings are quite possibly lost to time, he says.)
About the drawing above, Jonathan says: “For years, I imagined Charlie as a fully grown creature who was sent to protect Nan. It wasn’t until I started playing with the idea that he would be born and raised as a ‘baby’ that the heart of the story really emerged.”
I thank him for sharing what he calls his “Sweep doodles.” (Note: No big spoilers are revealed in either the drawings or Jonathan’s explanations of them.) Let’s look at some more. …
As the book developed, that bag ended up taking larger significance
in ways that surprised me even more than my characters!”
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(the monster, especially, looks all wrong), but it captures
the essence of the second half of the book.”
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figure out what that relationship would look like.”
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but ultimately, it’s what the story needed.”
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All images reproduced by permission of Jonathan Auxier.
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) Much-needed rain in California. I’m grateful that friends there are safe.
2) The holiday break meant more time with my girls.
3) The fact that my book club will discuss picture books for hours on end. (But next month we will discuss … Sweep!)
4) Tree’s up!
5) Giving just the right book as a gift to a friend.
6) Story time.
7) This tweet made me laugh:
I work at a bookstore and this was an actual conversation I had at work last night:
5 year old boy: *brings me a romance book* what's this?me: a story about two people falling in love!
b: …. is there a dragon in it?
me: no..
b: then why do you even have it on the shelf?
— Brittany Evans 🍩 (@ImBrittanyEvans) November 22, 2018
What are YOUR kicks this week?
Hello, Imps! Hope you’re enjoying the weekend.
Hello, Jonathan! Thanks for sharing the Sweep doodles.
Jules: I wonder if that kid will grow up to own a bookstore called Nothing But Dragons and only sell books featuring dragons. 🙂 Enjoy your upcoming break!
My kicks from the past week:
1) Details
2) Writing
3) Noting
4) Transcribing
5) Vegetables
6) Safety
7) Thoughts
Thank you, Jules, for sharing Sweep. It looks like a must read. I admit I scanned the doodles to avoid the spoilers. I want read Sweep.
Jules, the tweet is priceless. I hope to get my tree up this week. Hooray for the California rain.
LW, love the writing and noting.
My kicks:
1. The coast.
2. Thanksgiving with friends.
3. Traveling a lesser road and seeing elk.
4. The movie, Instant Family.
5. Crochet.
6. Bookshelves
7. Reading.
Have a great week.
LW: I’d shop at Nothing But Dragons.
Jone: So glad you had a good Thanksgiving.
Hope you both have a great week!
Jules: Me too. Me too.
Hi Jone! Fun list. 🙂
Ooh, SWEEP also looks amazing!
And really, why DO we even have books which don’t have dragons in them?? That is a question for the ages.
Ruth McNally Barshaw and I were at nErDCamp 2018, where she was signing books next to a tall, young and personable man with boxes of ARCs and a huge line. I helped him unload some of the boxes, and when it was over, he gave me a signed ARC. Needless to say, I’m now a huge Jonathan Auxier fan.
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