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This is the first time Tad Hills’<\/a><\/strong> Rocket, pictured above, has visited 7-Imp, and it’s long overdue. <\/p>\n So, when I write weekly columns for Kirkus<\/em>, I always follow up one week later here at 7-Imp with art from the book. (To not post as much art as I’m allowed makes me twitch a little.) In early May, I did a short Q & A over at Kirkus<\/em><\/a><\/strong> with author\/illustrator Tad Hills. He has created many picture books over the years that my children and I have enjoyed, including the Duck & Goose<\/strong><\/a><\/em> books, one of which I covered here<\/a><\/strong> at 7-Imp in 2007 (back when, shudder, I only included book covers). <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then what did I do this year? I completely blanked on my follow-up 7-Imp post to the Kirkus<\/em> Q & A I did with Tad in May. I was sitting on the art you see here today (which includes art from the 2010 title), but I realized the other evening that I never posted it. Gasp. This is not like me. Not at all. The best explanation I can come up with is that the week I had planned to post it was the same week Sendak died, and I was rather stunned and sad — and it just all threw me, I think, and clearly left me flum-diddly-iddled.<\/p>\n But all’s well that ends well, ’cause the book is being released this week<\/em> after all. So, see? I TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT. <\/p>\n Also, the other good timing here (though I didn’t plan for it) is that just yesterday Tad Hills was in Nashville (all the way from Brooklyn), speaking at the wonderful Parnassus Books<\/a><\/strong>. My daughters got to see him read a Rocket<\/em> book, and we got to meet him briefly. Here’s a pic I snapped:<\/p>\n If you missed How Rocket Learned to Read<\/em> in 2010, it is, as the Kirkus<\/em> review wrote, “a paean to the joy of reading and the teachers that inspire it.” <\/p>\n Now, there are a skerjillion ways a book about learning to read could have been done up just all wrong<\/em>, but Tad did it perfectly right: It’s a genuinely sweet and sunny tale that celebrates all the world that is opened up by learning the “wondrous, mighty, gorgeous alphabet,” which Rocket learns from a little yellow bird he meets in “his favorite spot under his favorite tree.” <\/p>\n Rocket’s reluctant to learn at first—he loves to play, chase leaves, chew sticks, and listen to the birds sing, so what else does he need anyway?—but the bird begins reading a story aloud one day, a story about a dog named Buster, and Rocket is hooked. <\/p>\n Reading is taught a myriad ways in schools today, but I like this way best of all: Wanting to hear the end of a juicy-good tale is what compels Rocket to learn his letters. “Don’t forget! Words are built one letter at a time!” the bird tells him. <\/p>\n In the follow-up we’ll see this week, Rocket Writes a Story<\/em>—rendered in oil paints and colored pencil—we see that Rocket is still reading, and he even likes to go out searching for new words. He writes them down and hangs them in the tree. “Now what shall we do with these splendid words?” the little yellow bird says. “I’m going to write a story!” Rocket declares, an adventure story. <\/p>\n However, even though Rocket has a collection of words, he is not sure what to write. (And oh how his head hangs in this illustration, Hills going a long way in depicting the challenges of penning one’s own tale.) No worries. The bird, his fine-feathered editor, has some encouragement and ideas for Rocket …<\/p>\n I can’t give this all away; I want to leave the story to unfold for you when you find a copy of this one, but I’ll add quickly that Rocket makes a new friend this time … <\/p>\n Because stories connect us with others. <\/p>\n See? Tad did it up right a second<\/em> time. These books are a delight, particularly for language arts teachers in the elementary classrooms. (In fact, the image opening this post, which I can’t resist, comes from a Rocket<\/em> teacher’s\/librarian’s kit<\/a><\/strong> of sorts, which includes both books. The smart folks at Schwartz & Wade whipped this up; I’ve seen the kit, and it’s good stuff. Four words: Rocket word tree poster.) <\/p>\n I wonder what Rocket’s gonna do next. Perhaps we’ll get to witness the writing of his dissertation one day. <\/p>\n I have no doubt Tad Hills could make it interesting and endearing. <\/p>\n ROCKET WRITES A STORY. Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Tad Hills. Published by Schwartz & Wade Books, New York. All illustrations reproduced with permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n HOW ROCKET LEARNED TO READ. Copyright \u00a9 2010 by Tad Hills. Published by Schwartz & Wade Books, New York. All illustrations reproduced with permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 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. New kickers are always welcome. <\/p>\n 1)<\/strong><\/font> See that “then together they began to read” spread above? I love the look on Rocket’s face there. It’s the intently-listening-to-a-great-story face. <\/p>\n 2)<\/strong><\/font> The look on Jemaine’s<\/a><\/strong>—I mean The Hiphopopotamus’s—face when he so expertly raps that his rhymes are bottomless:<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/rocketwritesastory.JPG\")
When I chatted with Tad in May, we talked about his new Rocket<\/em> book, Rocket Writes a Story<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, to be released by Schwartz & Wade this week. This book is the follow-up to How Rocket Learned to Read<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, which was a 2010 title. I considered it a 7-Imp 2010 travesty that I didn’t cover that book here. I wanted to. I liked it. But what can I say? Some books fall through the cracks, and that book fell through the cracks in 2010. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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little yellow bird’s alphabet and practiced his letters.”<\/em>
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the lucky dog who found his bone under the lilac bush.”<\/em>
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asked Rocket. ‘ Yes, something that excites you,’ the little yellow bird sang.”<\/em>
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