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eisha<\/font>: Did you hear that? BRIAN PINKNEY<\/strong><\/a>!!! Can you stand<\/em> it? Can you possibly bear the full-on hard-core joy explosion that is this collection of illustrations? Look at that little boy! Is that not the most perfectly captured moment of summer sweetness ever? And how about this one:<\/p>\n I know, right? It’s like those kids are so vibrantly buoyantly happy that gravity has totally given up on them.<\/p>\n Oh, hey, I’m getting ahead of myself. Welcome to our weekly feature 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, where we invite everyone to share 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. And we feature some lovely illustrations. This week, we’ve got a few spreads from We Are One<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Harcourt, 2008), a new picture book by Ysaye M. Barnwell<\/strong><\/a> (member of the a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock<\/strong><\/a>). Obviously, Mr. Pinkney did the fabulous illustrations. Here’s another:<\/p>\n Hello, Van Gogh<\/strong><\/a> reference! I love that swirly sky.<\/p>\n The book also comes with a musical CD. I haven’t seen the book or heard the CD; Jules told me she has a library copy of the book but it was processed in such a way that she can’t get the CD out of the envelope. D’oh! Anyway, thanks to Harcourt for sending us the spreads. They’re a lovely way to set the tone for a listing of happy events.<\/p>\n So, ready for some kicks? Right on.<\/p>\n 1* Well, obviously, those illustrations. Did I mention how much I love them?<\/p>\n 3* When switching out my winter clothes for summer a few months ago, I realized that I no longer fit into some of my favorites. I’d gained quite a bit of weight since I moved – I think it was those months of being unemployed that did it. I mean, when you’re home all day and the fridge is just right there<\/em>… Anyway, I started making an effort to eat better and trying to exercise once in a while. And this week I tried on my favorite old jeans – and they fit again! I’d like to say goodbye to a few more pounds, but I do feel much better now.<\/p>\n 5* I made the final payment on my car. Now she’s really mine! Phoebe’s just a little Toyota Echo, but I love her. I love her like most people love their pets. Or their children. She just makes me happy in a way I can’t explain.<\/p>\n 6* The neighbors and I had a yard sale Saturday, and I got rid of a few things – including a bunch of books. My bookshelves have room to grow again! Also, we met some of our new neighbors, who all seem pretty great.<\/p>\n 7* We celebrated our successful sale with lunch at Moosewood<\/strong><\/a>. Mmmm.<\/p>\n eisha<\/font>: Sorry, me again. Jules is out of town for her niece’s birthday, but she did ask me to pass on this bit of awesome: Remember a couple of weeks ago<\/strong><\/a> when we featured Rima Staines’s<\/strong><\/a> fantastical artwork? She’s got a new clock on display at her blog<\/strong><\/a>. I think it might be my favorite.<\/p>\n So, how about you? Anything good going on this past week you want to share? Please tell us in the comments!<\/p>\n Illustrations from WE ARE ONE by Ysaye M. Barnwell, illustration \u00a9 2008 by Brian Pinkney, posted by permission of Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" eisha: Did you hear that? BRIAN PINKNEY!!! Can you stand it? Can you possibly bear the full-on hard-core joy explosion that is this collection of illustrations? Look at that little boy! Is that not the most perfectly captured moment of summer sweetness ever? And how about this one: I know, right? It’s like those kids […]<\/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-1395","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\/1395","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=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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<\/a>2* My be-brave<\/strong><\/a> moment for the week: I got a little more serious about my creative writing. I even admitted to some people that I was working on a novel, and told them a bit about the plot. This is scary stuff for me. The more people who know about it, the more people might ask me how it’s going, or ask to see what I’ve done so far. So… yikes<\/em>, now I’ve told you, too. PLEASE DON’T ASK!<\/p>\n
4* Haven Kimmel’s<\/strong><\/a> Iodine<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is so unbelievably gorgeous. Like everything else she does. But we’ll definitely co-review it someday, so I’ll save my gushing for that.<\/p>\n