{"id":2088,"date":"2011-03-03T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2011-03-03T00:01:54","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T06:01:54","slug":"theyre-back-and-this-time-i-can-scream-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2088","title":{"rendered":"They’re Back — And This Time I Can Scream About It"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who’s back?<\/em> you may be wondering. You remember the unforgettable critters (I’m originally from Kentucky; I must<\/em> say “critters”) from Deborah Underwood’s<\/a><\/strong> The Quiet Book<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, illustrated by Renata Liwska<\/a><\/strong>? You know. The picture book folks read and fell in love with last year (what? I’ve yet to meet a soul who didn’t fall directly in love with that book) and then closed their eyes, stuck their fingers in their ears, and said lalalalala I’m not listening when you say the illustrator is Canadian and not eligible for the Caldecott<\/em>, because it was THAT GOOD. It did, however, get the 2010 Gold Medal<\/a><\/strong> from the Society of Illustrators in the category of Original Art: The Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration. <\/p>\n

I think it’s remarkable how quickly The Loud Book<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Houghton Mifflin), this companion book of sorts, came into existence. The Quiet Book<\/em> was published in April of last year, and this one will be released next month. Perhaps they were both planned to begin with. Perhaps the publisher noted the great and abiding love for The Quiet Book<\/em> and quickly got to work on its sequel. I don’t know. But no matter. It’s here, and it possesses, not surprisingly, many of the same winning qualities as its predecessor: the smart, subtle humor; the gentle, detailed pencil illustrations (colored digitally); the unexpected connections (“crackling campfire loud”); the direct, very child-centered line to the emotional worlds of its wee readers; and lots<\/em> of room to think, which the author and illustrator leave readers\/listeners in spades. (As Kirkus<\/em> wrote about The Quiet Book<\/em>, “{t}he most moving scenes leave space for imagining.\u201d) <\/p>\n

If you know The Quiet Book<\/em>, you know it was a catalog of quiets. Quiets you may not have previously considered but that made young children nod their heads in undeniable and immediate recognition. (See my April 2010<\/a><\/strong> post for some spreads from the book.) Well, there are also lots of louds. Oh. Wait. Ahem. I’ll let the first page of the book tell you…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But right<\/em> before that is the copyright page, featuring the second half of an illustration, whose beginning is depicted on the title page. On the title page is a bear, and on the following page, pictured here, a rabbit with the end of their stringed-can phones, mechanisms of loud, to be sure:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I love that design. And my favorite kind of loud?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What child, I ask you, isn’t going to crack right up at that? Straight to laughing. No. Hooting, actually. Straight to hoot-laughing. Best part is that the iguana is hardly concerned about the trouble he’s about to get in (though rabbit knows she’s straight-up sunk<\/em>). That cookie is just too good. <\/p>\n

That favorite is followed closely by “Ants loud,” as in one creature’s picnic basket lunch is attacked by ants and she’s making her dismay about it known to one and all through her tears. Honorable Mention for me: “Candy wrapper loud.” This one takes place in a movie theater. (I seem to always end up next to those folks.)<\/p>\n

Just as with The Quiet Book<\/em>, this would make for a great writing prompt in elementary classrooms. Really. I’m just so happy to see these creatures return and to see the collaboration once again between Underwood and Liwska. I’ve got a couple more illustrations to show you in my never-ending 7-Imp efforts to just let the art speak for itself. (Note the last illustration. Not only do the author and illustrator have that direct line to childhood emotions, but they have also nailed the wonder. I love how “fireworks loud” isn’t the boom and pop of the fireworks, but the dazzling sparks seen afterwards.)<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

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

THE LOUD BOOK. Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Deborah Underwood. Illustration copyright \u00a9 2011 by Renata Liwska. Published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who’s back? you may be wondering. You remember the unforgettable critters (I’m originally from Kentucky; I must say “critters”) from Deborah Underwood’s The Quiet Book, illustrated by Renata Liwska? You know. The picture book folks read and fell in love with last year (what? I’ve yet to meet a soul who didn’t fall directly in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088","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=2088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}