{"id":1816,"date":"2009-10-18T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2009-10-18T06:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1816"},"modified":"2009-11-28T14:22:27","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T20:22:27","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-137-featuring-melanie-watt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1816","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #137: Featuring M\u00e9lanie Watt"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At the risk of sounding like Grumpy Old Man in a Series #7,000, I have to say that I pretty much loathe how children today are targeted as consumers at such very young ages. Though I limit the amount of time my children sit in front of the television screen, I actually don’t have a problem with storytelling (done well and in moderation) via the medium of television or DVD; it’s the commercials that I DO NOT want them to see. My husband taught our girls to say, at very young ages, “commercials are for suckers.” This would be why I’m happy to share some illustrations today from M\u00e9lanie Watt’s<\/a><\/strong> newest picture book, Have I Got a Book for You!<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, in which Mr. Al Foxword, one very insistent salesman, tries just about everything to get you to buy his book already. <\/p>\n

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As you fans of Scaredy Squirrel<\/strong><\/a>—children’s literature’s most endearing panic-stricken protagonist—know, M\u00e9lanie, a Canadian author\/illustrator, doesn’t always bring us the most traditional<\/em> narrative structures. Scaredy always has his charts and diagrams and lists and schedules and Other Things of the Left-Brained Nature. No “once upon a time”s for him. But Watt still manages to make the stories kid-appealing. Mr. Al Foxword doesn’t have Scaredy’s organizational skills, but Watt employs her usual techniques to tell the tale. She breaks the text up via Al’s demonstrations (“Al’s satisfied customers”), lists (what to do with “not 1, but 2 of {his} awesome books”), and well…even more lists (the “boring books” you should say goodbye to so that you can buy his book) — all rendered via charcoal pencil (and assembled digitally). <\/p>\n

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(Click to enlarge.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

In other words, there isn’t much more here than Al trying everything he can to get you to buy what he’s selling, but what an entertaining way to show children what a “commercial” is and to enlighten them in the persistent ways of a salesperson trying to convince them to do something and their motivations behind it — and it’s a MUCH more fun way to learn than your parent saying, “commercials are for suckers.” (There are way<\/em> more laughs generated M\u00e9lanie’s way.) In the book’s dedication, M\u00e9lanie writes that the book’s concept is a “cheesy one,” but hey…it’s fitting. Cheese, cheese, cheese. Do people like Al have anything other<\/em> than that to offer? <\/p>\n

I won’t give away the clever ending, in case you want to see it for yourself. <\/p>\n

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(Click to enlarge.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is 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

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

Selection from Have I Got a Book For You!<\/em> by M\u00e9lanie Watt reprinted by permission of Kids Can Press Ltd., Toronto. Text copyright \u00a9 2009 M\u00e9lanie Watt. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2009 M\u00e9lanie Watt.<\/p>\n

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

I’ve been fighting bronchitis all week. Blech. But I can surely find some kicks:<\/p>\n

1). I know I mentioned last week that we were partying down for our youngest’s birthday. She actually turned four this week, and we partied down a bit more. I always get misty-eyed on my daughters’ birthdays, remembering the birth part of the birthday (conveniently forgetting the pain, as Mother Nature would have it), but I guess what mother doesn’t, right? <\/p>\n

2). My friend, Rachel, drove over two hundred miles to come to Ada’s party, which was very kind. And she crashed here and we had a great time catching up again. She also gave me some of Andrew Bird’s<\/a><\/strong> CDs, as well as Ben Sollee’s<\/strong><\/a> (pictured here) ’08 CD<\/strong><\/a>. Ben is a classically-trained cellist, but he takes his cello and plays it like a guitar. And the CD refuses to be classified. (Is it pop? Is it jazz? Is it bluegrass? We don’t need to waste time trying to figure out genres, thanks very much<\/em>, the CD seems to be saying). Other than the cello, there’s some guitar, fiddle, saxophone, banjo, a jaw harp, drums, a vibraphone, and much more on the CD. Very fun. I don’t think<\/em> that Ben normally plays on top of cars, but I like that photo, nonetheless. <\/p>\n

3). A wonderful phone conversation with a good long-distance friend this week. (Hi, Jill!)<\/p>\n

4). Julie Larios’ original poem<\/a><\/strong> from Friday of this week. And it’s very kicks-like in spirit, yes? <\/p>\n

5). This<\/strong><\/a> in-the-works documentary on children’s lit. I think I’ve already exhausted each video there. Thanks to Fuse<\/strong><\/a> for the link. <\/p>\n

6). Jeremy has some new ice photos<\/strong><\/a>! You remember this<\/a><\/strong>, right? (And I don’t want to embarrass him, but his ice photos were accepted for an upcoming art-gallery showing, so congrats to Jeremy!)<\/p>\n

7). I get to see some Georgia O’Keefe art today at Nashville’s art museum<\/strong><\/a>. For that reason, I might also be a bit scarce mid-day, but I’ll be back to read your kicks. If anyone’s kicks get snagged by spam, sorry in advance. But I’ll release the hounds when I return. <\/p>\n

ANNOUNCEMENT: Have you seen INK Think Tank<\/a><\/em><\/strong> yet? It’s fabulous, you all. It is a free online database of nonfiction titles, a search engine launched by twenty-two authors and author\/illustrators of nonfiction books. It’s designed for teachers, librarians, and people who homeschool; the authors linked their books to curriculum standards. It’s a great idea from the folks who have also brought us I.N.K.<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, or Interesting Nonfiction for Kids<\/em>. Check it out, especially if you work directly with children and books. It’s free to register. Woot!<\/p>\n

Oh, and congrats to Laini<\/strong><\/a> for her National Book Award nomination<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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

At the risk of sounding like Grumpy Old Man in a Series #7,000, I have to say that I pretty much loathe how children today are targeted as consumers at such very young ages. Though I limit the amount of time my children sit in front of the television screen, I actually don’t have a […]<\/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-1816","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\/1816","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=1816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}