{"id":1820,"date":"2009-10-25T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T06:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1820"},"modified":"2009-10-25T06:32:47","modified_gmt":"2009-10-25T12:32:47","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-138-halloween-style-featuring-howard-mcwilliam-and-pascal-lemaitre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1820","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #138, Halloween-Style: Featuring Howard McWilliam and Pascal Lemaitre"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“‘Listen, Herbert, I’m sorry. I just don’t think this is going to work. It’s nothing personal, but I really need a monster with claws.’ ‘Picky, picky,’ Herbert complained. ‘As you wish. I’ll go.’ There was some more creaking. Then Herbert was gone.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Jules:<\/strong><\/font> How funny is that<\/em> illustration? I love it. <\/p>\n

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Since it’s the Sunday before Halloween, I thought we’d kick today with some illustrations in the spirit of the holiday — with a spotlight on two different books. This above spread comes from Amanda Noll’s<\/strong><\/a> I Need My Monster<\/strong><\/a><\/em> (Flashlight Press, April 2009), illustrated by British illustrator Howard McWilliam<\/strong><\/a>, what Kirkus<\/em> calls “an unusually well done double-debut.” Yup, it’s Amanda’s first picture book — and Howard’s as well, though he’s evidently done editorial illustrations for UK publications, such as The Daily Telegraph<\/em> and The Week<\/em>. The book, whose endpapers alone could delight me for hours, is very funny—with tons-of-fun dark and droll humor (two of my favorite kinds<\/em> of humor, don’tchaknow)—and has been met with good reviews all around. It’s about a young boy named Ethan, who finds one evening a note from his monster under his bed: “Gone fishing. Back in a week. Gabe.” “How was I supposed to get to sleep if my monster was gone?…How would I ever get to sleep without Gabe’s familiar scary noises and his spooky green ooze?” Ethan wonders. Eventually, when Ethan hears some creaking under his bed, he knows the “substitute monster had arrived.” First, there’s Herbert, as pictured above, in his audition of sorts. Even more monsters appear…<\/p>\n

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“I peeked through my fingers at the slimy tail slithering over the foot of my bed. That’s when I noticed the bow. ‘Are you a girl monster?’ ‘Of course I am,’ she snapped. ‘I’m Cynthia. Do you have a problem with that?’ ‘Um, yeah, I do,’ I admitted. ‘I definitely need a <\/em>boy monster. Boy monsters are for boys and girls monsters are for girls. Everybody knows that.’ ‘Well, aren’t you a picky one,’ she sniffed,
and then she was gone.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

…but none of them will quite do and none can quite deliver what Gabe does, one monster named Mack even telling him that perhaps Gabe just left “because you’re SO-O-O picky. Fine. I’m out of here. But I wouldn’t expect another monster tonight if I were you.” Well, little does he know, Gabe does<\/em> return (and I’m deeply in love with the eye-popping perspective in this spread)…<\/p>\n

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“Then the bed trembled as Gabe unfurled his spiked tail. He was daring me to guess where he might pop up. I shivered.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

“I was inspired to write the story, because my three-year-old wouldn\u2019t stay in bed,” Amanda told me. “I remember wishing she had a monster under her bed keep her in bed. Then wondering why the monster was doing such a lousy job (because she was out of bed again!). Then I thought, even monsters needed a holiday and wondered how that would work.” McWilliam’s illustrations were drawn with pencil on paper and then painted with digital acrylic paint. I thank him for sharing some spreads today. And, I have to say—since I like to mix things up at 7-Imp and feature books from as many publishers as possible, both big and small—that this is the first book from independent publisher Flashlight Press<\/strong><\/a> I’ve ever spotlighted. <\/p>\n

Okay, one more. Remember when Firefighter Ted was here<\/a><\/strong> at the end of last month? He sprung from the mind of author Andrea Beaty<\/a><\/strong> and was brought to life further at Pascal Lemaitre’s<\/a><\/strong> paintbrush. Well, I had these illustrations then to show you, but I thought doing so right before Halloween would be even better. Andrea and Pascal also collaborate on Hush, Baby Ghostling<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, released by Margaret K. McElderry Books in August, a study in spectral role-reversal, told in rhyme: A wee ghostling can’t get to sleep, his mother putting him to sleep at break of day and telling him to dream of the wild monsters, promising to leave some darkness in the hall, and helping him find his night-time toy, Mr. Bones. I love how Pascal has gone old-skool-ghost on us, depicting the white-sheet-with-holes look, \u00e0 la Charlie Brown. And I love how his palette lightens from dark blues to light pinks, as the sun rises and the ghostling struggles with his fears. <\/p>\n

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“So nestle safe beside me in our happy haunted home, and dream a dream of darkness where the wild monsters roam.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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“It’s late, my dear. The sun is near: Just one last lullaby<\/font>. I’ll wake you when the moon—once more—is shining in the sky.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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“Close your eyes and drift to sleep and dream of midnight skies. Of hisses, howls, and screeching owls. Of bats and banshee cries.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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“What, Baby Ghostling? You’ve had another scare? You’ve seen a boy<\/font> with ten pink toes, blue eyes, and golden hair?”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Thanks to Andrea for the spreads. (I can’t wait to see this<\/a><\/strong>, her next title.)<\/p>\n

Oh, and Happy Halloween to all…Hope everyone celebrates big. <\/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

I NEED MY MONSTER. Text copyright \u00a9 2009 Amanda Noll. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2009 Howard McWilliams. Published by Flashlight Press, Brooklyn, NY. Images used with permission of illustrator. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

HUSH, BABY GHOSTLING. Text copyright \u00a9 2009 Andrea Beaty. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2009 Pascal Lemaitre. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York, NY. Images used with permission of author and illustrator. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Hi, everyone. Jules here. I think I’ll forego the usual kicks this week, except to say that I’m grateful for my family and friends and health. <\/p>\n

I graduated (from here<\/strong><\/a>) as an undergrad in 1994, and some of my best friends and favorite people were in the class above me — a small group of them, so smart, so funny, each so blazingly original, that I was truly humbled (as cheesy as that sounds) to be their friends. I always rather looked up to them, too, and hung around them whenever I could. One of them died this week. Alone in her home. They think it might have been a heart attack, but no one’s sure at the time I’m typing this. Don’t get me wrong: I hadn’t talked to her since college, other than finding her on Facebook and saying hi. We weren’t terrifically close. But the whole thing has left many of us feeling very sad and shaken. She was too young. She was so kind. Never had a bad word to say about anyone as long as I knew her. She will be missed. The entire thing is a sad reminder of how fleeting life is, and so I’m just, honestly, in a weird, funky mood about it. No matter how much loss a person might go through, something like this is still a stark, fresh reminder of how tenuous life is. And I hold Kathy’s family and friends in my thoughts and send love their way. <\/p>\n

I don’t mean to bring the room down. Just being honest. Can’t fake your kicks, if you’re not feeling kicky. You know? <\/p>\n

Let’s hear it for some happier kicks this week. Got some?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“‘Listen, Herbert, I’m sorry. I just don’t think this is going to work. It’s nothing personal, but I really need a monster with claws.’ ‘Picky, picky,’ Herbert complained. ‘As you wish. I’ll go.’ There was some more creaking. Then Herbert was gone.”(Click to enlarge spread.) Jules: How funny is that illustration? I love it.<\/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-1820","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\/1820","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=1820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}