![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/Boo-Hoo-BeaverSpread.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nJules:<\/font><\/strong> Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, our 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. <\/p>\n Bird, of Grumpy Bird<\/em> fame, is back in Boo Hoo Bird<\/em>! Yes, he’s returned and has made a noun of the word “bonk.” This I love<\/em>, because—no kidding—we do that in our house. I wish I could say that Jeremy called and got that tip from me, that I get all the credit for the “BONK” usage in Boo Hoo Bird<\/em>, but that’s okay. I was happy to see it. I am also happy that Jeremy, who says a bit about the book below, includes a synopsis (well, the kind that doesn’t give away the ending), since it’s been a while since I turned in my library copy of Boo Hoo Bird<\/em>. But I do<\/em> remember this: The book is great. It’s very funny (what with Bird’s flair for histrionics). And I still get great pleasure out of soaking in Jeremy’s art. I still say: He’s one of my favorite new illustrators. <\/p>\n Let’s get right to it. Thanks to Jeremy for stopping by for a brief visit and for the art. (We’re even being treated to some art from early dummies of the book today.) <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeremy: <\/strong><\/font>“<\/font>Jules has very kindly asked if I would like to share any thoughts about my new book,<\/em> Boo Hoo Bird<\/strong><\/a>. Never one to pass up an opportunity to self-promote, I said yes. That was a good couple of months ago now. Sigh. Life is too busy. Actually, I have a good excuse: my wife and I were expecting our second child, and I was trying to tie up a bunch of loose ends before his arrival. He showed up ten days late, and I still didn’t manage to deal with all the ‘loose ends.’ Anyway, Theo Tankard was born<\/strong><\/a> on May 16th. A healthy nine-and-a-half-pound boy! So, now I’m learning how to be a parent to a boy. <\/p>\n Anyway, enough about that. I’ll try not to review <\/em>Boo Hoo Bird. (There are plenty of great reviews out there already. Besides, it just wouldn’t be right to review my own book.) Instead, I’ll give you a little blurb about the book and follow it with ‘thoughts’ (whatever those are) about it.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n If you liked <\/em>Grumpy Bird<\/strong><\/a>, I think you’ll love <\/em>Boo Hoo Bird. The book is a wild and crazy romp (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase) through the drama of getting a bad boo boo on your head. Or, in this case, Bird’s head. Bird is playing a game of catch with his good friend, Raccoon, when he gets BONKED on the head. The word BONK gets used repeatedly in the book and is now high on my list of very favorite words — if not right at the top of the list! Raccoon tries to ‘fix’ the problem by kissing Bird’s owie. Strangely, it doesn’t work. They go and seek the advice of Rabbit. Rabbit suggests a hug. This doesn’t work either. Beaver, Sheep, and Fox all throw in their favorite BONK remedies, but those don’t work either. What’s a poor, hurt Bird to do? I won’t give it away (but if you read some of the many wonderful reviews I’ve had they’ll tell you). Or, better yet, go get a copy of the book and find out for yourself.<\/em><\/font> <\/p>\n 1. Writing sequels is more difficult than writing the first book.<\/p>\n 2. ‘Sad’ is actually funnier than I’d thought.<\/p>\n 3. Rabbit seems to be the most sensitive of Bird’s friends.<\/p>\n 5. Bird is the most fun to write.<\/p>\n 6. My drawing and storytelling skills have improved immensely since <\/em>Grumpy Bird.<\/p>\n 7. Good editors are vital.<\/p>\n 8. I love the back-and-forth between editor, author, and art director.<\/p>\n 9. “BONK” is my new favorite word (and one that I might have to use in every book from now on). It’s just such a satisfying word. Give it a try. Go on! BONK!<\/p>\n 10. I can’t listen to music when I’m writing, but when drawing, it sure helps.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n 1. I had to learn how to draw some of the characters in profile for <\/em>Boo Hoo Bird. I didn’t think I could do it, but they actually look really cute in profile — especially Rabbit and Raccoon. In <\/em>Grumpy Bird, you never see any in complete profile, except Bird.<\/p>\n 2. The background art is more organic and ‘painterly’ than in <\/em>Grumpy Bird, something that I learned while working on <\/em>Me Hungry!<\/strong><\/a> I’m really proud of the backgrounds in <\/em>Boo Hoo Bird. This was necessitated by the forward action of the story stopping when the animals reached Fox’s place. In order to keep things interesting and fresh, I needed to make the background painting a little less ‘designy’ and make more room for ‘happy accidents’ that kept the art fresh and interesting. The design elements used in the art blend in better this time around.<\/p>\n 3. The book took a year-and-a-half to write.<\/p>\n 4. In an early version, Bird cheers up his wailing friends by hauling out a box of wigs. The animals looked hilarious, and pretty dumb, with wigs. We changed the ending for obvious reasons.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n 5. I had a hard time coming up with a really good ending. I’m really happy with the ending that I used, though.<\/p>\n 6. When I read the book aloud to large groups of children, I get the biggest laugh from the page where Raccoon kisses Bird. I didn’t expect that at all! That, or the whole group shouts, “YEEEWWWW!!” which I find strange. Surely their parents kiss their owies better?<\/p>\n 7. The book was originally called <\/em>A Bonk for Bird. My editor came up with <\/em>Boo Hoo Bird. It’s pretty obvious whose title is the better one.<\/p>\n 8. In my first dummy, there was a spread where the animals are all thinking about how to fix their situation. Rabbit is smoking a pipe in the drawing. It took a week or two before anyone noticed. Hee hee. So sneaky of me!<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n 1. The front cover (I like both the bright green AND the drawing of Bird). Every now and then, I’m completely satisfied with my own drawing; it doesn’t happen often, though. But I like how Bird turned out here.<\/p>\n 2. Rabbit hugging Bird (because they look so cute).<\/p>\n 3. Raccoon throwing his arms up to the heavens on the page where Bird decides he’s okay after all.<\/p>\n 4. Raccoon and Rabbit sneaking cookies.<\/em> {Ed. Note: It’s pictured at the opening of this post, but here it is again. Click to enlarge.}<\/p>\n 5. Raccoon throwing the ball.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n I’m often asked, ‘what kind of bird is Bird?’<\/p>\n And I could probably keep going, but it would just be silly, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do with your time than read me droning on and on about my new book. I’m really proud of it, though. Thanks to everyone who has blogged, reviewed, bought, and read these books. You’re keeping me from getting a real job. Now go outside and play!<\/p>\n BONK!<\/p>\n love from,<\/p>\n jeremy Thanks again to Jeremy. To keep up with his work, here’s<\/strong><\/a> his great blog. I mean, really, you don’t want to miss sneak-peeks like this monster passing in the night<\/strong><\/a>, do you? <\/p>\n Hey. I’m heading out to the Berks to see a show, so I’ll just keep this simple. My kicks this week are: you. All of you. Jules, especially, of course; but all of the loyal 7-Imp readers and kickers are made of awesome, and I love you sincerely. Thanks for being here.<\/p>\n Well, okay, maybe one more kick. It’s been a long time since I posted a nephew pic, and I just got one from my mom. He’s over two now, and apparently a lot of help around the house. Ladies, hold on to your ovaries:<\/p>\n I’m with Eisha. On the 7-Imp love and<\/em> the Bucket ‘o’ Miles being a bucket ‘o’ cute. <\/p>\n That’s a kick, but also: <\/p>\n I was lucky enough, it just so happens, to have three visits by long-time and good, good<\/em> friends this week, all from out-of-town:<\/p>\n 2). A high school friend who came with her four children, who are all so polite and adorable that I’d actually consider adopting them and…<\/p>\n 3). Another high school friend and her husband, whose little girl is my girls’ favorite person ever and…<\/p>\n 4). Two college friends I haven’t seen in entirely too long, who are two of my favorite people. And their PUDDIN’ HEAD girls, close in age to mine, were with them. <\/p>\n Also: <\/p>\n 6). The word “perftacular!” came out of my five-year-old’s mouth last week. I don’t celebrate this in one of those insufferable don’t-kids-say-the-darnedest-things kinds of ways. I simply, as mentioned last week<\/strong><\/a>, marvel at how the child turns more and more into Ned Flanders each day. <\/p>\n 7). John<\/a><\/strong> helped me figure out something related to Sam Phillips’ recent video<\/strong><\/a> (a conversation which started here at 7-Imp last week<\/strong><\/a>), which resulted in her directly answering a question of mine on Facebook. Hey, that was cool. That John. He’s smart. And has good taste. (AND<\/em> is a linguist<\/strong><\/a>, don’t you know?)<\/p>\n P.S. Happy birthday, Jill!<\/p>\n Announcement: If you’re so inclined to share your own thoughts on the notion of how “art saves,” you can go here<\/strong><\/a> to Little Willow’s site or here<\/strong><\/a> to read about the Art Saves project. Here is my five-year-old’s contribution. I suppose she thinks that dinosaurs-in-sombreros save, too. Rock on.<\/p>\n On this, 7-Imp’s third birthday(ish), we are grateful for our readers, whom we consider friends. Oh, and Bird, of course, and Jeremy’s art. (The WIGS! The wigs sent me into hysterics.) What are YOUR<\/font> kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jules: Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, our 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. Do you see that above? Raccoon and Rabbit are sneaking some COOKIES. Sneaky sneakers. 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While Working on Boo Hoo Bird<\/em>:<\/font><\/center><\/p>\n4. Raccoon might be my favorite one to draw (although I like them all).<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>I’ve usually just told kids that he’s some kind of a made-up blue bird; he’s not really based on any particular species. Then, the other day when Heather, my wife, flipped the calendar over, there was a big photo of a bird called a Cerulean Warbler<\/strong><\/a>. He’s small and blue and cute. She suggested that Bird might in fact be a close cousin of the Cerulean Warbler called a Cerulean Whiner. His call is distinct, loud, dramatic, and often annoying. So, now you know. <\/p>\n
\nxoxo<\/em><\/font>“<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\nAlso, speaking of loving our blog readers, guess what? It’s kinda sorta 7-Imp’s 3rd birthday. The very first post<\/strong><\/a> (with the tragic title — I couldn’t get more creative than that<\/em>?) was dated August 1st, 2006, but we actually composed those first posts around this time of the year. (I can’t remember the reason, but we purposely dated them early August, instead of July.) I think last year we forgot to even celebrate, but I remembered this week that, hey, we’re about to have an anniversary. So, woo hoo! Happy birthday to 7-Imp and all that. <\/p>\n5). I got an unbirthday present from one Mrs. BlueTeaBerrry<\/strong><\/a>; it was very fun to open; and it was WRAPPED IN ALICE WRAPPING PAPER, people! And the card had this image here, in fact. Such thoughtful details all over this kickin’ gift. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n