{"id":1198,"date":"2008-03-30T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2008-03-30T06:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2008-03-30T00:02:51","modified_gmt":"2008-03-30T06:02:51","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-56featuring-laura-nyman-montenegro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1198","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #56:
Featuring Laura Nyman Montenegro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jules<\/strong>: What a pleasure it is to have Laura Nyman Montenegro<\/strong><\/a> here today to share some art work from her latest title with us! If you’re already familiar with some of Laura’s previous titles (here’s<\/a><\/strong> just one of my favorites), then you already know about her beautiful line-and-watercolor spreads and, as the above Just One More Book!!<\/em> link put it well, her stories of “confidence, creativity and acceptance.” And here’s something not-to-be-missed: A Spring ’08 feature on Laura<\/strong><\/a> at The Prairie Wind<\/em> (newsletter of the SCBWI-Illinois chapter), in which Laura talks about what a person’s bookshelf reveals about him or her — and elaborates on her own mother’s bookshelf, as she viewed it as a child:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I always felt there was an intimacy about her bookshelf, as though each book revealed something personal about her. And when I try to understand my attraction to books, I see that it is not only the physical beauty of the book that I love, but more so, this deep personal connection between one who writes a book and one who reads it. It\u2019s the miracle of the sharing of the human experience in this way.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Laura, who also teaches classes in the art of picture-book-making, talks about her process in that short SCBWI-Illinois piece as well (“{c}reating a picture book is, for me, a big, messy process”), including her use of clothes pins and string to hang art on her walls. And she talks about her latest title, A Poet Bird’s Garden<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), which I reviewed here<\/strong><\/a> in January, and its genesis. The images she shared with us today are from that title, and here’s what Laura had to tell us about them:<\/p>\n

When Natalie’s pet bird, Chirpie, won’t come down from the tree, Natalie’s friend Monica calls the poets and begs them to come help. Call the poets! The poets will know what to do! Poets always think and see with imagination. And when they let their quirky ideas fly, they come up with an idea. A beautiful garden. A place so wild and enticing that no bird can resist it. A garden so lush and wild that only a poet could bring it to life. I wanted this garden to be a place that was completely untamed, a place in the middle of a city block that would be filled with birds, a place to sit and drink in the beauty of the trees tossed about by the wind and the grasses rustling below. I like the idea of giving poets, and their completely unconventional way of looking at the world, a chance to solve the problems we face. That they imagine and create a space for the community, a place that is wild and unruly and beautiful is true to life and I say, listen to them all the more!<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Many, many thanks to Laura for stopping by! Many of you had the chance to meet her, as I did, at last year’s kidlit conference. It was a delight, chatting with her. I believe she will be launching a new web site soon, so keep your eyes out for that (as well as a 7-Imp Q & A in a new illustrator-interview format I’m working on).<\/p>\n

As a reminder, 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 (as well as featuring artists like Laura). You — yes, you<\/em> reading now — are more than welcome to leave your kicks from the week, whether you’ve ever done so before or not. <\/p>\n

* * * eisha’s kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Rod Serling, about to pop a cap in yo\u2019 ass.1* Jules made it home from Boston safe and sound, in spite of what sounds like some harrowing mishaps.<\/p>\n

2* Remember that mysterious good news I had last week but wasn’t ready to share? It was a job interview, which took place Friday. I think it went pretty well, despite the cold sore that appeared on my lip that very morning.<\/p>\n

3* Here’s a weird kick: the chair of the academic department where I’m temping is one of the editors of the most recent Norton Shakespeare<\/strong><\/a> anthology. He asked me to do something menial, and I joked, “yeah, okay… if you give me a signed copy of your book.” Which he did!<\/p>\n

4* I’ve been doing lots of reading in preparation for several potential co-reviews that Jules and I are talking about. I always get a kick out of talking books with J.<\/p>\n

5* Hey, this is kind of a cool thing you may not know: Ithaca College, where my husband teaches, holds the archival collection of Rod Serling<\/strong><\/a>. They hosted the second-ever conference<\/strong><\/a> in his honor this weekend, which included the first ever I could just take a bite out of those cheeks. They\u2019re even frosted!staged reading of an original uncensored script. It’s called “Noon on Doomsday,”<\/strong><\/a> and it was inspired by the murder of Emmett Till<\/strong><\/a>. I saw it, and it was really moving.<\/p>\n

6* And – surprise! – my husband acted<\/em> in it. He didn’t even tell me until the night before, that Mr. Crafty McSneakypants.<\/p>\n

7* My nephew turned one on Thursday. I didn’t get to go home for his party, but evidently there was cake. And I hope there was a nap right after this photo was taken.<\/p>\n

7.5* Oh, and the illustrations this week are fun. I like the pensive-staring-at-bird one best.<\/p>\n

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

Eisha, AWWWWW. Your number one kick is mighty sweet. And look at your nephew — the Eisha in him is strong! I see you in that face. <\/p>\n

As I mentioned this week, I went to a company meeting in Boston (for the company for which I serve as a very part-time contractor) at the end of the week, and I was supposed to return last night. However, I missed my connecting flight to Nashville — long story, involving the first flight being delayed and another Nashvillian and I running like hell through the airport with about thirty seconds to catch the flight, which had already ditched us! The airport put me up in a very loud hotel, and I got about two hours of sleep, so I think I’m going to head to bed here (on Saturday night, as I type this). But first, some kicks:<\/p>\n

1)<\/font>. I FINALLY met the people I work with (I had only met one face-to-face before, as most of our work gets done virtually), and everyone was way nice and way interesting. These are people with Harvard business degrees who teach business simulations as well as computer geniuses and such, who lead very interesting lives all-around. This includes one of the software developers, a British lad now in Santa Cruz, whose wife is an astronomer and studies what she calls “galaxy forensics”; who is fascinated by physics and improv acting exercises; and who is writing his third science fiction novel. And the business simulation facilitator who used to be a minister. And the other software developer who grows his own hops. And the other facilitator who travelled all the continents this year. And one of the co-founder’s stories over dinner about working on an oil rig in Texas in high school and getting ribbed for reading Leon Uris’ Trinity<\/em> while there (poor guy got hosed down for not reading a book with pictures). Really nice, really interesting people, and I’m happy to be in their company. <\/p>\n

2)<\/font>Though I got stuck in Phili overnight and didn’t get home when I wanted to, I got stuck with another Nashvillian, a science teacher who became my buddy and we endured our wah-wah-we’d-rather-be-home-right-now pity party together. <\/p>\n

3)<\/font>I missed my family something FIERCE, and I’m happy to be home again. I was seriously jonesing for some hugs from my wee babes. <\/p>\n

4)<\/font>Laura’s art work today. Beautiful stuff, and I love that book. <\/p>\n

5)<\/font>I got lots of reading — glorious reading — done during my travels. Well, “lots” for me, who has little windows of time to read with two young children. I was free of child-interruptions, though, and actually even finished a novel. That was rather heavenly. <\/p>\n

6)<\/font>ZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . Hubba wha? Okay, I need to go sleep instead of type. I am seriously behind on blog-reading, and I hope folks come visit today to update on their worlds, while — in the meantime — I try to get caught up. (It’s no fun to not have time to read Poetry Friday posts.)<\/p>\n

What are your kicks this week?<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: What a pleasure it is to have Laura Nyman Montenegro here today to share some art work from her latest title with us! If you’re already familiar with some of Laura’s previous titles (here’s just one of my favorites), then you already know about her beautiful line-and-watercolor spreads and, as the above Just One […]<\/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-1198","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\/1198","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=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}