{"id":1101,"date":"2008-01-25T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T06:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2008-01-25T00:01:37","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T06:01:37","slug":"a-friday-kick-anna-and-priscilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1101","title":{"rendered":"A Friday Kick: Anna and Priscilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

As many of you know, when we gather on Sundays to list our 7 Kicks<\/a><\/strong> for the week, we feature an illustration (or two or three or four) from some of our favorite illustrators, whether they have a new book coming out or not. And I’m such a fan of good picture book illustration that it’s become my favorite feature of all here at 7-Imp (here’s<\/a><\/strong> a list of whom we’ve featured thus far). <\/p>\n

Author\/Illustrator Anna Alter<\/a><\/strong> was lined up to be featured this Sunday but later re-scheduled for another Sunday. And when that Sunday didn’t work out for her after all (but after I had already lined up another illustrator<\/a><\/strong> for this weekend), I told her that 7-Imp would gladly<\/font> feature her any ‘ol day of the week. Her illustrations have a way of brightening our days. As a result, I asked my Poetry Friday entry for today to scoot on over — shoo, shoo and skedaddle, I told it, and it obliged me — so that we could feature some art work from Anna’s new illustrated title, Priscilla and the Hollyhocks<\/strong><\/a><\/em> written by Anne Broyles<\/a><\/strong> (but, hey, I snuck in some poetry yesterday<\/a><\/strong> anyway). <\/p>\n

Back in April of last year, Anna graced our site with an interview<\/a><\/strong>. In that Q & A, she shared with us two illustrations from this title, to be published in February by Charlesbridge, and also shared her thoughts on illustrating this poignant tale, based on a true story, about a young African American girl who is sold away from her mother as a slave. Later, she is sold to a Cherokee Indian and forced to join them on their journey down the Trail of Tears. Eventually purchased by a white man, Illinois innkeeper Basil Silkwood, she is set free — and adopted into his family of fifteen children. All throughout her experiences, Priscilla carries the seeds of her mother’s favorite flower, the hollyhock. <\/p>\n

Apparently, Broyles discovered the story of Priscilla while doing some research about the Cherokee Trail of Tears for a young adult novel. I’ve already read a copy of Priscilla<\/em>, which opens: “When I was young and still wore slavery’s yoke, I was saved by hollyhocks, and a white man’s kindness.” It’s a powerful story of courage and the very meaning of “home,” as Priscilla plants her hollyhock seeds along her journey to bring a sense of comfort while being passed around from family to family as nothing more than a piece of property: “Wasn’t much I wanted to ‘member from my first home but Ma. Pink hollyhocks kept her livin’. Surely if I thought on her, she might think on me, too, where’er she was.” <\/p>\n

To boot, the book includes instructions for making a hollyhock<\/a><\/strong> doll.<\/p>\n

Here’s an illustration from the book, depicting the Cherokees’ journey along the Trail of Tears. More illustrations from the book can be found here<\/a><\/strong> at Anna’s site. Anna also blogged about the process of illustrating the book here<\/a><\/strong> and here<\/a><\/strong>. And, to celebrate the book’s release, there will be some partying going on for those of you in the Boston area. Here’s the info, straight from Anna: <\/p>\n

“Charlesbridge and two great local bookstores are throwing us two fun-filled launch parties, one in Jamaica Plain and one in Wellesley. Both events will feature:<\/p>\n

* An art activity for kids (make your own hollyhock doll);<\/p>\n

* Curriculum guides for teachers who wish to use the book in their classroom;<\/p>\n

* A short presentation by both the author and myself about how we made this book;<\/p>\n

* Original artwork and sketches\/process work on display.<\/p>\n

Plus snacks and good cheer for all of course! <\/p>\n

Here are the details:<\/p>\n

February 9th at 1:00 pm
\nThe Wellesley Booksmith<\/strong><\/a>
\n82 Central St
\nWellesley, MA 02482
\n(781) 431-1160<\/p>\n

February 16th at 3:00 pm
\nJamaicaway Books & Gifts<\/a><\/strong>
\n676 Centre Street
\nJamaica Plain, MA 02130
\n(617) 983-3204″<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks to Anna for stopping by. Thus ends our Sunday-feature-on-a-Friday. But wait! Anna sent another illustration from the book, and it just so happens to be my favorite one from it, so I’m going to close with a very big version of it so that your eyes can soak it all in. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you know, when we gather on Sundays to list our 7 Kicks for the week, we feature an illustration (or two or three or four) from some of our favorite illustrators, whether they have a new book coming out or not. And I’m such a fan of good picture book illustration that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1101","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\/1101","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}