{"id":2223,"date":"2011-10-18T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T06:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2223"},"modified":"2011-10-18T07:55:55","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T13:55:55","slug":"blue-jeans-at-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2223","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jeans at Breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Click image to see the text more clearly and
to see the entire spread from which it comes)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

I can say with confidence that this is the first time here at 7-Imp that I’ve featured illustrations rendered on blue jeans. <\/p>\n

Yes, for Tony Johnston’s Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea: A Fairly Fabricated Story of a Pair of Pants<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 2011), illustrator Stacy Innerst<\/a><\/strong> painted with acrylics on old blue jeans, and it totally works. <\/p>\n

This book, a barrel of fun (that’s a really bad pun that will make you cringe, once you go find yourself a copy), is—in the words of Johnston—“mostly legend with threads of truth, which my version stretches to near popping.” To be clear, there’s a closing author’s note that lays out the facts about Levi Strauss, but the narrative takes us on a tall-tale adventure, making this, incidentally, a great read-aloud to older elementary students. <\/p>\n

And Johnston gets right to the exciting action on page one:<\/p>\n

“GOLD!” somebody yelled. Next thing anybody knew, the whole world rushed to California and started digging up the place. The trouble was, they rushed so fast, they lost their pants.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, I ask you: What elementary kid isn’t gonna love that<\/em> opening? <\/p>\n

Johnston goes on to say that their pants actually disintegrated due to their flimsiness. “Soon, every miner was sluicing for color in his long johns—or naked as a jaybird. Yessir, all of California was mining in the vanilla.” OR … wearing barrels in the Great Barrel Rush. <\/p>\n

Cue New Yorker Levi Strauss (who says “DANG!” a lot — did I mention what a great read-aloud this is?), realizing these men “need pants that last.” Making pants out of the miners’ tents (“indestructible tent pants”), he causes a stir and invites his brothers from New York City, needles in tow, to assist. <\/p>\n

And I don’t want to give it all away, should you want to read it yourself, but this one’s got some flair, dear readers. “An outlandish whopper of a tall tale, this story just begs to be read aloud with an old-timey Western accent,” writes the School Library Journal<\/em> review. <\/p>\n

Mr. Innerst studied art and history at the University of New Mexico, as you can see at this<\/a><\/strong> page of his site, and there’s also a wonderful portfolio section<\/a><\/strong> at his site, including a “picture books” link. <\/p>\n

Here’s a bit more art from the book. Enjoy. <\/p>\n

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(Click image to see entire spread from which it comes)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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“Pretty soon, each miner had a spanking new pair of tent-pants…. They were so overcome with gratitude, the men named their new gear after Levi himself.
‘DANG!’ said Levi Strauss. He blushed.”<\/em>
(Click image to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“Instead of the presidency, Levi Strauss ended up with a mountain of barrels. He scratched his beard. ‘Hmmmm,’ he said. ‘There’s a use for these. I wonder what?’
One day he was pondering that when his brain lit up. ‘DANG!’ said Levi Strauss.
He snatched up a hammer and rushed into the streets.”<\/em>
(Click image to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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

LEVI STRAUSS GETS A BRIGHT IDEA: A FAIRLY FABRICATED STORY OF A PAIR OF PANTS. Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Tony Johnston. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2011 by Stacy Innerst. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. Images reproduced with permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Click image to see the text more clearly andto see the entire spread from which it comes) I can say with confidence that this is the first time here at 7-Imp that I’ve featured illustrations rendered on blue jeans. Yes, for Tony Johnston’s Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea: A Fairly Fabricated Story of a […]<\/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-2223","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\/2223","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=2223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}