{"id":1986,"date":"2010-08-29T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T06:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2010-08-29T00:01:55","modified_gmt":"2010-08-29T06:01:55","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-182-featuring-beatrice-rodriguez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1986","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #182: Featuring B\u00e9atrice Rodriguez"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>

{Note: Click on this image to see the entire spread from which it comes.}<\/center><\/em>
When I did this<\/a><\/strong>…oh, about a month ago, I guess it was, I found myself telling those in attendance about a lot of wordless picture books. I realized that a lot of my favorite titles from this year (as well as in general) are true “picture books”: wordless gems. This morning, I’m featuring one of those — and one of my favorite picture books of 2010. <\/p>\n

I first read about B\u00e9atrice Rodriguez’s<\/a><\/strong> The Chicken Thief<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Enchanted Lion Books, May 2010)—originally published in France in 2005 as Le Voleur de Poule<\/em>—at Betsy’s blog<\/a><\/strong>, in which she described it as “one of the lovelier picture book offerings of the year,” adding that it’s charming and very French and is an “epic cross-country chase, {which} reads like The Bremen Town Musicians<\/em> meets The Fugitive<\/em>.” The wonderful Paula at Pink Me<\/em> also covered this one<\/a><\/strong>: <\/p>\n

I had to check the copyright date on this suave wordless sliver of an epic tale over and over again. You see, like many French things…The Chicken Thief<\/em>, with its timeless one-joke story, well-crafted loosey-goosey pen and ink and watercolor art, and enigmatic title… could have come from any age.<\/p>\n

A lot of French pen and ink illustration (and Belgian) has a gestural quality, a breezy confidence that works particularly well with energetic stories…And this story, being wordless, is told entirely through action and expression. The arc of a smile is just a tiny line, 5 millimeters, but in that 5-millimeter line, B\u00e9atrice Rodriguez tells us whether her character is smiling in triumph or embarrassment, with joy or with anticipation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

The story, encased in a small, rather horizontal, panoramic book (perfect for a chase narrative, as Betsy points out), is all about a fox, who steals a chicken from a rag-tag family of forest creatures in their country home. The bear, rabbit, and rooster of this home set off in hot pursuit of the chicken and fox, but—as you can see at the top of this post in the cutting from the below spread—the chicken becomes rather fond of the fox. And, well, the spreads featured below (you REALLY must super-size them by clicking on each image, since they post here so tiny) give you an indication of where the story heads…<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

…and, no, I just cannot<\/em> give away the ending, though it’s clear that this becomes a tale of, as the Publishers Weekly<\/em> review calls it, “romantic intrigue.” Best thing to do, too, when you peruse your own library or bookstore copy? Check out the facial expressions of each animal, particularly that poor, deserted, SCORNED rooster. <\/p>\n

Delightful. Funny. Sweet, but not syrupy so. Don’t miss this one. <\/p>\n

THE CHICKEN THIEF. First American Edition copyright 2010 by B\u00e9atrice Rodriguez. Published by Enchanted Lion Books, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a 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

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

1). I figured out I get to attend this<\/a><\/strong> in October, after all.<\/p>\n

2). Brand-new music this week from Sam<\/a><\/strong>, including a cover of Tom Waits’ “Green Grass,” which just SLAYS me right smack dab in half.<\/p>\n

3). Reading a handful of great novels at one time to my girls. Well, this means the six-year-old, and the four-year-old just occasionally decides to stop jumping around like a monkey on crack in order to listen to bits here and there. <\/p>\n

I am particularly moved when my six-year-old is particularly moved by a passage. I just had to let her cry the other day—as in, a twenty-minute pause—when we said goodbye to a character she didn’t want to say farewell to. (And crying is much easier when you’re cuddled up with mama.)<\/p>\n

4). Speaking of the girls, here’s a missed kick from last week: In their Saturday art class, they let music guide their paintings. Their art teacher told them to let the melodies inform their brush strokes. First, they painted to Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”; then, Pachelbel’s Canon<\/em>, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries<\/em>, and John Coltrane’s “Bessie’s Blues.” How much do I love this idea? A lot. <\/p>\n

5). Collaborating with the wonderful Cristiana<\/a><\/strong> at The Tea Box<\/em> way over in Italy! More to come on that…<\/p>\n

6). Roberta Flack’s “Do What You Gotta Do.”<\/p>\n

7). I received an unsolicited review copy of this novel<\/a><\/strong> by Lesley M.M. Blume<\/a><\/strong>, which gets released next month:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…and my girls and I are loving it, especially the six-year-old, who is obsessed with reading about mythical creatures (though, she told me last week, magic isn’t real — go figure). Maybe I’ll say more about this book later. And, lordy, the review copy came with a limited-edition illustration from the book by David Foote<\/a><\/strong>. Okay, wait. Now that I’ve visited his site by linking to it there, I’ve discovered this, which gives you a peek at a good deal of Foote’s art work:<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Just…just….COOL.<\/p>\n

What are YOUR<\/font> kicks this week? Oh! And here:<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

…in case you<\/em> want to go paint. Also: That’s for Little Willow<\/strong><\/a> to swing to. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Note: Click on this image to see the entire spread from which it comes.}When I did this…oh, about a month ago, I guess it was, I found myself telling those in attendance about a lot of wordless picture books. I realized that a lot of my favorite titles from this year (as well as in […]<\/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-1986","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\/1986","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=1986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}