{"id":1072,"date":"2007-12-30T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2007-12-30T06:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2009-01-12T22:05:02","modified_gmt":"2009-01-13T04:05:02","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-43-featuring-r-gregory-christie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1072","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #43: Featuring R. Gregory Christie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jules<\/strong>: Well, hello there! Eisha and I have been taking a holiday blog break for a while here, and — as I type this — I’m still not even sure she’s done with her holiday travelling. I hope she is and is able to contribute her kicks this week. <\/p>\n

You may have noticed last week that we went ahead and kicked it old-skool style — and then some — with Arthur Rackham at our very brief kicks post<\/a><\/strong>. Well, we had originally planned to feature some new art work from the talented R. Gregory Christie<\/a><\/strong>, but we re-scheduled that for this week. We were worried no one would see it last week, due to the busy holidays, and we hope that folks are around to see it this week, too, since we’re excited to be featuring it. <\/p>\n

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If you haven’t seen Christie’s (I believe he goes by Greg, so I’ll just run with that here) . . . If you haven’t seen Greg’s most recently-illustrated title, Jazz Baby<\/em><\/a><\/strong> by Lisa Wheeler<\/a><\/strong> (Harcourt; November 2007), then I’m here to tell you that it’s a visual and read-aloud delight (or, as Publishers Weekly<\/em> put it best, since I’m a review nerd and care about these kinds of things, a “buoyant musical jaunt”). It’s all about one hand-tappin’, finger-snappin’, toot-tootin’, all-around clappin’, scattin’, bitty-boppin’, rat-tat-tattin’ baby and his family (“Mama sings high. Daddy sings low. Snazzy-jazzy Baby says, ‘GO, MAN, GO!'”). Greg was the perfect choice for illustrating this title, I boldly say, as he apparently created the art work on the covers of many jazz records after graduating from New York’s School of Visual Arts (and he continues to create illustrations for album covers, books, and magazines). <\/p>\n

In my mind, Greg needs no introduction, other than to say: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors<\/em> and immense talent<\/em> and we at 7-Imp adore his art work<\/em> and Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and Love to Langston<\/em><\/a><\/strong> and Keep Climbing, Girls<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and the Schneider Family Book Award-winning<\/a><\/strong> The Deaf Musicians<\/em> (which I reviewed here<\/a><\/strong> around this time last year) and a whole slew of other great books you can see here<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and this statement on his web site, which has always made me happy (he’s addressing his particular style here)<\/em>: <\/p>\n

“The disproportionate compositions and elongated figures are meant to be a directional device for the viewer, my own natural inclination, and a challenge for the viewer to break away from the established fundamental belief that all children’s books must be realistic or cute. I take chances with each project and do what is necessary to make the art interesting and unique.”<\/p>\n

If you need an intro, go to his fabulous web site<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

The image at the top of this post is one from, in Greg’s words, “a new project narrated by Queen Latifah and written by actress Karyn Parsons. It’s artwork for an animated movie named ‘Garrett’s Gift.’ It will be seen on HBO this coming February {and more can be read about it at} www.sweetblackberry.com<\/a><\/strong>.”<\/font> Greg sent one more illustration from this project: <\/p>\n

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He also sent us some never-seen-before illustrations from an upcoming title, Open the Door to Liberty: A Biography of Toussaint L’ouverture<\/em>, which should be published about a year from now, he told us. Here are some:<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, he sent us some sketches for How Louis Armstrong Taught Me to Scat<\/em> by Muriel Harris Weinstein. Here’s what he had to say about this title: “It’s the uncensored version of a character study. When working on books, it’s give-and-take insofar as the direction of the book. I was hoping to have a bit zanier eccentric mother but it went a more conservative route at the request of my editors, so if you choose to showcase the sketch, then you’ll see the cutting room floor version of the mother character.”<\/font><\/p>\n

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Greg also added: <\/p>\n

The latest books — Jazz Baby<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, The Deaf Musicians<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and A Chance to Shine<\/strong><\/a><\/em> — are a new direction for me in terms of subject matter and aesthetic, but I’m still pushing myself to keep things stylized and unique as I create these images. These are only a few of several projects… I keep myself busy but balance all this out by seeing the world a bit. So one month I may be doing these books in Douglassville, Georgia, and another in Dakar, Senegal. It’s what’s needed to keep my happiness and sanity.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’d like to thank him for stopping by and for sharing his invigorating art work with us. What a great way to end 2007 — with a cyber-visit from R. Gregory Christie. Many thanks and Happy New Year to him, where ever he may be now. <\/p>\n

* * *<\/center><\/p>\n

By way of explanation for any new folks (who we hope will leave their lists), 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. <\/p>\n

*******Jules’ kicks<\/strong>*******<\/center><\/p>\n

1). Well, it’s Saturday evening as I type this, and I’ve been online all night with my fellow Cybils<\/strong><\/a> panelists in the Fiction Picture Book category<\/a><\/strong>. It was crunch time: Our shortlist is due today (Sunday), and so we discussed our favorite titles and argued passionately and compromised and begged and borrowed and pleaded for our most beloved books to make the list. That’s kick numero uno for me: That if you’re reading this on Sunday, we’re done and handing the shortlist over to the judges! I think our list is a good one, and it was exhilirating fun to talk picture books with such book-lovers. Here were my panelist peeps, and I was honored to work with them: Marcie at World of Words<\/strong><\/em><\/a>; MotherReader<\/a><\/strong>; Annie at Crazy for Kids’ Books<\/a><\/strong><\/em>; and Cheryl Rainfield<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

2). My family and I got to visit Eisha and her husband last week. I think it’d be accurate to say that my almost-four-year-old daughter thinks the sun rises and sets in Eisha. She loves playing with her, and Eisha plays well.<\/p>\n

3). Big Kick: My girls’ faces on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n

4). Getting Mary Oliver’s Thirst<\/strong><\/em><\/a> for a Christmas gift — as well as a Nina Simone CD and an autographed Mitali Perkins<\/a><\/strong> and Jamie Hogan<\/a><\/strong> title from Eisha and some of that Ithaca double espresso bock (The Kaffinator<\/a><\/strong>, or oh yes COFFEE BEER) from Eisha. <\/p>\n

5). I normally don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but my husband and I are determined to organize the books in our home that are about to take over said home, and I think we’re going to actually make progress. <\/p>\n

6). My two-year-old has been dancing around the house, singing “The Bare Necessities” — but singing it this way: “Look for the bare necessities\/The simple, bare necessities\/Forget about your worries and your stripes.” Now, if I actually had stripes, I’d find them hard to dismiss and would, indeed, worry very seriously about them, but thank goodness, none of us Danielsons have them after all. <\/p>\n

7). Even though I have precisely one bajillion review and library books I’m still determined to get caught up on, I just finished an advance copy of Haven Kimmel’s<\/a><\/strong> new middle-grade novel, Kaline Klattermaster’s Tree House<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (heaven bless Simon & Schuster for not casting me off every time I email and say, Haven Kimmel has a new book out? O for the love of all things holy, she could not possibly have bigger fans than me and Eisha. PLEASE may we have a copy?! {insert sobbing and more pleading here}<\/em><\/font>. Anyway, this book is INSANELY FUNNY AND SO GOOD that it is way better than a Santiago Zeppelin, circa 1989, or even Gummi treats (I’ll explain later). Eisha and I will co-review this title soon. I suppose when she gets home from travelling she’ll find it in her mailbox and will very likely squeal very. very. loudly. <\/p>\n

P.S. I predict I will buy this book, budget allowing, for every one I know<\/em>, child or not (if they have good taste, that is — if they have bad taste, sorry, they’re on their own). <\/p>\n

P.S. again — I am going to promptly read it one more time. And then probably again. <\/p>\n

7\u00bd — last, but not least). Getting snail mail today from Adrienne<\/a><\/strong>! With Elephant & Piggie<\/a><\/strong> stickers!!<\/p>\n

That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it. One final thing: My husband and daughters and I were in a wild, almost near-death (no kidding), roller-coaster-ride of an almost-car accident today (BIG, DUMB, STUPID, LAND-YACHT SUVs — oh, excuse me, did I just go off?), involving my tiny, rattletrap Sentra doing an unequivocal 360-degree turn in the middle of the interstate with traffic flying by and the car ending up perpendicular to traffic in the CENTER lane. Yet, not one car touched us. This is something of a miracle. My wee girls were in the back, and my husband and I both thought at any moment that we were going to get crashed into and, quite frankly, all bite the dust. So my biggest kick of all is that I’m alive and so is my family. And that my husband is a great driver. <\/p>\n

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday. I wish Eisha could list her kicks; I miss them. But no doubt she’ll be here next week. Happy merry 2008! What are your kicks? Is anyone around?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: Well, hello there! Eisha and I have been taking a holiday blog break for a while here, and — as I type this — I’m still not even sure she’s done with her holiday travelling. I hope she is and is able to contribute her kicks this week. You may have noticed last week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}