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Fans of Cynthia Rylant’s<\/a><\/strong> Mr. Putter & Tabby<\/a><\/strong><\/em> series of chapter books may be happy to know, if you don’t already, that illustrator Arthur Howard’s cartoon watercolors are on display in Liz Garton Scanlon’s<\/a><\/strong> latest picture book, Noodle & Lou<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Beach Lane Books, March 2011), which is all about…. Well, you know how you occasionally have those really low self-esteem, want-to-drag-your-ass-back-to-bed days, in which just about ever<\/em>thing you do makes you feel like an undeniable loser and the grass is always greener, no matter where you look, but along comes a kickin’-good friend to tell you that, indeed, you actually do<\/em> rock and in quite possibly more ways than one? (These low-self-esteem moments happen to me way<\/em> more often than a wiser person would admit.) Yeah. That. The book’s about that. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/NoodleandLou_Spread1a.jpg\")
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The grass grew much greener in other worms’ rows.”
(Note: The final published spread is slightly different from this one.
The publisher must have sent me an earlier version.)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
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One of the many things I like about Liz’s writing is that she goes to show you that you don’t always<\/em> have to believe some of the do’s and don’t’s about writing for children that fly out of the mouths of many, no matter how often they may be repeated. One of those would be: Stray from writing picture books in rhyme. Sure, lots of not-so-stellar picture books in rhyme get published annually (okay, well, a LOT do), but when it’s done well, it can be a delight. Liz is one of those who does it well, one obvious case-in-point being the 2010 Caldecott Honor book<\/a><\/strong>, All the World<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, illustrated by Marla Frazee<\/a><\/strong>. Publishers Weekly<\/em> describes Scanlon’s rhyming couplets in Noodle & Lou<\/em> as “sturdy yet none-too-formal,” possessing “an unfaltering rhythm and gentle humor.” <\/p>\n Noodle, the one here needing some serious cheering, is a worm. Lou is a bird. They are best buds. Now, if you read the professional reviews on this one—and if there’s a negative one, I haven’t stumbled upon it; the book’s been uniformly praised—a few reviewers note the bizarro-ness (to be erudite about it) of a bird being best friends with a worm. (“{S}ome sticklers may question why Lou considers Noodle a best bud, rather than an appetizer,” wrote Publishers Weekly<\/em>.) But it actually quite makes me laugh in all its absurdity. It’d be interesting to road-test this on a group of children to see their response to that, something I haven’t done yet, but the notion of a bird and worm as friends is funny (in the right way) to me—perhaps a bit slightly deranged (in a not-so-severe way)—and it just works<\/em>. There’s even a wink-wink moment in the book in which Noodle says, “Birds think I’m a treat,” to which Lou looks at him knowingly to say, “You are<\/em> pretty sweet.” Fantastic. And a little bit wonderfully surreal. <\/p>\n This is a tribute to the bond you have with an encouraging friend. “Every kid should have a friend like Lou, and Noodle and Lou\u2019s story shows just how it can be done,” wrote Booklist<\/em>. And Howard’s loose, fluid watercolors are sunny and full of cheer. A real pick-me-up of a picture book about the ability of a true-blue friend to chase the blues away. <\/p>\n NOODLE & LOU. Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Liz Garton Scanlon. Illustration copyright \u00a9 2011 by Arthur Howard. Published by Beach Lane Books, New York. All images reproduced by permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n Note for any new readers: 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 No kicks for me this week—I’m packing for a flight to Massachusetts, and most of my week has been filled with merely Getting Everything Done in advance of the trip—but I do hope you share your kicks this week. AND I will be back to read on Sunday. Here, though, to tide everyone over are seven very possible announcements before breakfast<\/strong><\/font>.<\/p>\n Actually, wait. You know. Honestly, this<\/a><\/strong> was my one big kick. It was like a stab in the heart to read that. It speaks great truth in my life. But I love the power of a poem to do that. (And Marie Howe’s<\/a><\/strong> work is familiar to me, though that poem wasn’t.)<\/p>\n Okay, announcements: <\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> Mitchell Silverman of The Giving Effect, a NYC start-up that represents 1,300 charities across the country, just launched an event to get 1,000 books to children in inner-city Detroit. “What’s unique about what we’re doing,” he told me, “is that donors print free postage to mail their books. It is an experiment in honesty and kindness.” Here<\/a><\/strong> is a link to the site. <\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> Many congratulations to J. Patrick Lewis<\/a><\/strong> on his appointment by The Poetry Foundation to his two-year tenure as the nation\u2019s third Children\u2019s Poet Laureate<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> Those interested in helping Guys Lit Wire<\/em> support a library in need can find more information here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> Artists from Pixar are teaching a Masterclass in Story Development & Animation this summer. This is an intensive, two-day class taught by what appear to be talented instructors. More information is here<\/a><\/strong>. A little birdie told me that the \u201cStory Development\u201d half of this masterclass is exceptional and always well-received by the attendees (and that even the animators are surprised by how much they get out of it).<\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> New York’s BreakThru Radio hosts a wide variety of on-demand radio shows, which include music, comedy, and literature. On one of their most popular shows, Radio Dispatch<\/em>, brother and sister hosts John and Molly Knefel recently invited Dan Wilbur of Better Book Titles<\/a><\/strong> to discuss both Caroll’s Alice<\/em> and Through the Looking Glass<\/em>, not to mention The Little Prince<\/em>. Haven’t heard it myself yet (I repeat: I haven’t heard it myself yet and have no idea how this conversation goes), but I’m sharing for interested folks. The link is here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> The May issue of The Bluegrass Special<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is online with content, as always, re-printed from 7-Imp (this time three<\/em> 7-Imp features<\/a><\/strong> … jump back!). <\/p>\n *<\/font><\/strong> Last, but far from least: Literacyhead<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, an online magazine integrating literacy education and the visual arts (more about them to come at a later date), is currently running a membership special. For the next two weeks, they are giving automatic upgrades to lifetime memberships whenever someone subscribes for one year. All the info you need is here<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n What are YOUR<\/strong><\/font> kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I hope I don’t slight today’s featured picture book due to the fact that I’m typing this before leaving town for a work meeting. In other words, this has to be relatively short and sweet. (What? You’re laughing. I can actually be brief. On occasion.) Fans of Cynthia Rylant’s Mr. Putter & Tabby series of […]<\/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-2135","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\/2135","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=2135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/NoodlandLou_Spread3a.jpg\")
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Noodle quite gloomy and Lou just steadfast.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/NoodleandLou_Spread2a.jpg\")
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(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n
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