{"id":2467,"date":"2012-11-25T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-25T06:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2467"},"modified":"2012-11-25T11:16:23","modified_gmt":"2012-11-25T17:16:23","slug":"7-imp%e2%80%99s-7-kicks-307featuring-adam-rex-and-rafael-yockteng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2467","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #307:
Featuring Adam Rex and Rafael Yockteng"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The finished Mac and Adam puppets from Mac Barnett’s<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>Chloe and the Lion<\/a><\/strong>
with pictures by Adam Rex<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/center>
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“Here’s Jimmy. He’s the guy with the shoes.”
— From Jairo Buitrago’s<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>Jimmy the Greatest<\/a><\/strong>, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nSince it’s almost December (GASP!), I decided to devote today’s post to two 2012 picture books that I really liked a whole heapin’ lot, yet I had never gotten around to posting about. I do manage, I think, to post about picture books here at 7-Imp in a relatively timely manner, but these two fall into the better-late-than-never category. Here, I post about them before I see that the year has all sneaky-like ended on us — and in my own little effort to tip my hat to this pair of 2012 picture book beauties. <\/p>\n

Those two books? Jairo Buitrago’s<\/a><\/strong> Jimmy the Greatest<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng<\/a><\/strong> and released by Groundwood Books back in April (first published in Spanish in 2010), and Mac Barnett’s<\/a><\/strong> Chloe and the Lion<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, released by Disney Hyperion in the same month — with pictures from Adam Rex<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

I’ve got art from Jimmy the Greatest<\/em>, and for Chloe and the Lion<\/em>, Adam Rex visits briefly to share art, early sketches, thumbnails, and such. Let’s get right to it… <\/p>\n


 

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“Our story begins when Don Apolinar, the owner of the gym, looked at Jimmy properly for the first time and suggested he take a run around the town.
Since Jimmy didn’t have much else to do, he started training.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

If you haven’t already read or read about<\/em> Jairo Buitrago’s<\/a><\/strong> Jimmy the Greatest<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng<\/a><\/strong>, you’re in for a treat. Originally published in 2010 in Colombia (this 2012 English version was translated by Elisa Amado) and nominated by Venezuela’s Banco del Libro for a best book of the year, this is the story of a young boy, named Jimmy, who lives by the sea in a small town with only one gym. Don Apolinar, the gym’s owner, convinces Jimmy to start training. Jimmy agrees, given he “didn’t have much else to do.” Promising his grandfather he’ll become a boxer one day, Jimmy sets out to study and learn. He is given a cardboard box, filled with newspaper clippings and books about Muhammad Ali, and Jimmy trains and runs — often simultaneously. “Jimmy felt good,” Buitrago writes. “He wasn’t sure why, but he did. He wasn’t thinking about what he didn’t have anymore… He didn’t need much stuff to run. Nor to get others to follow along.” <\/p>\n

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“Jimmy loved to talk about strange things like respect and dignity,
though people didn’t always listen.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Eventually, his trainer moves, but Jimmy stays. He realizes, that is, that he has a lot to learn:<\/p>\n

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“Like how not to let time pass him by…”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

…and how to maintain a gym for others. And how to create a library. And so on. “Listen to me,” Jimmy says at the book’s close …<\/p>\n

This is my town.
\nThere are donkeys, three sheep
\nand the great huge sea.
\nThere are no elegant houses
\nor fancy things.
\nBut we’re really great.
\nWe dance and we box
\nand we don’t
\nsit around waiting
\nto go someplace else…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah. Beautiful, yes? <\/p>\n

If you missed the gazillion great reviews for this book earlier this year, here are some to read and enjoy, if you’re a review nerd like me: Robin Smith’s starred review<\/a><\/strong> at The Horn Book<\/em>; the starred Kirkus<\/em> review<\/a><\/strong>; and Betsy Bird’s review<\/a><\/strong>, just to name a few. Betsy writes: <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like fun stories set in poor Latin America villages appear on my desk every day. I read it and enjoyed it but it wasn\u2019t until I reread it, and reread it, and reread it, and reread it some more that the sheer brilliance of this little number got to me. With a careful hand author\/illustrator pair Jairo Buitrago and Rafael Yockteng have created a book that is an ode to the people who stay in small communities, helping and improving the daily lives of their friends and neighbors. This is a story that folks can relate to, no matter where they live. It\u2019s a paean to the heroes of small town life. Unsung heroes, I have located your book.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I was just about to expend a bunch of words to describe Yockteng’s digital artwork, but I’ll let the art here today speak for itself. You can click each image to enlarge and see it in closer detail.
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Last, but not least, is Mac Barnett’s<\/a><\/strong> Chloe and the Lion<\/a><\/em><\/strong> with pictures from Adam Rex<\/a><\/strong>. “Take a vaudeville stage with some flimsy painted scenery,” wrote Publishers Weekly<\/em>, “two clay figures that represent Barnett and Rex…, a brash and bespectacled heroine named Chloe (hand-drawn), a lion (also drawn), and some walk-on characters, and you\u2019ve got a comedy sketch in picture-book form about the chaos involved in collaborative storytelling.”<\/p>\n

This meta-tastic tale embraces the breaking of the fourth wall, as our author and illustrator—puppets, as already noted—not only converse with one another, but also interrupt the story and change its course of action. It all starts when Adam, the illustrator, doesn’t draw the words Mac, the author, lays out — and then Mac gives him some how-to and what-for. Mac defiantly hires Hank, a new illustrator, while (as you’ll see below) a lion walks up to Adam and eats him whole. (All this happens while the protagonist waits patiently by.) I don’t want to give away this very funny story, lest you want to read this one for yourself (if, like me, you’re getting around to it a bit late in the year). School Library Journal<\/em> called it an “elaborate prank on the picture-book genre,” so picture book nerds won’t want to miss this one. (Also, much like The Stinky Cheese Man<\/a><\/strong><\/em> finally<\/em> made teaching the parts of a book fun, this one would be a hoot in elementary classrooms when first-graders, say, go over the roles of authors and illustrators.) <\/p>\n

I don’t want to keep runnin’ my mouth here, since Adam has stopped by to share some of his early sketches and a bit of process, etc. Let me get to it, and I thank him for sharing. <\/p>\n

Adam<\/font><\/strong>: This is a spread from the finished book:
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“…a huge lion leapt out from behind an oak tree.
I’m sorry. Hold on. Adam, could you come out here?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nBut here we have the same spread in the dummy stage. Obviously, in a book like this the dummy takes on a different quality than the sort of thing I’d normally produce, which would really just be black and white sketches. I had some concern that Mac and Disney Hyperion would have some difficulty understanding what I intended for Chloe and the Lion<\/em>, if I only offered those kinds of sketches, so I went ahead and built the stage set I was envisioning out of balsa and bass wood and hoped I wasn’t wasting my time.
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nAnother page from the dummy, at a point in the story when “Mac” is ostensibly drawing the lion instead of me. Except, for this dummy page, I actually did the lion drawing myself, with my left hand, taking some pains to forget thirty years of practice and training.
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\nBut when it came time to put together the final page, Mac did the actual lion drawing. Chloe and the Lion<\/em> is Mac’s illustration debut: It includes a number of drawings by him of the lion and of Chloe herself.
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\nThis is how my work on Chloe<\/em> started, with the entire book mapped out in little thumbnail pages. The book eventually jumped from 40 to 48 pages, so note the little page-insert-carrot-notations throughout.
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nEarly sketches of different Chloes. Also sketches of Mac, me, and Bob Ross.
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\nLions:
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\nDragons — and my first sketch of what the stage might look like:
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\nThe sketches below were photographed and dropped right into the dummy spreads.
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\nWhen it came time to sculpt the puppets, I had a lot of trouble capturing Mac’s considerable essence. So, now I have a Tupperware full of reject heads, should I ever want to surprise Mac with a funny package like the kind Kevin Spacey sent Brad Pitt at the end of Se7en<\/em>.
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\nMy studio:
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nAn example of what one of my photographs looks like raw, no clean-up:
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nAnd the same, after I dropped in drawings of the lion and Chloe, adjusted levels and colors, pasted in a little empty stage over the figuring stand, and painted Adam a new expression.
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“The first thing the lion did was walk up to Adam and swallow him whole.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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CHLOE AND THE LION. Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Mac Barnett. Pictures \u00a9 2012 by Adam Rex. Published by Disney Hyperion Books, New York. All images here reproduced by permission of Adam Rex.<\/em><\/p>\n

JIMMY THE GREATEST. English translation copyright \u00a9 2012 by Elisa Amado. Text copyright \u00a9 2010 by Jairo Buitrago. Illustrations \u00a9 2010 by Rafael Yockteng. Published by Groundwood Books, Canada. Spreads used with permission of publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n

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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

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

This post is long enough today (though I’m extra happy to be sharing art from both Adam Rex and Rafael Yockteng), so I’ll keep it short this morning. <\/p>\n

I’m feeling kicky that my friends and my people had a good Thanksgiving and that I got to visit with Eisha (former blogger here at 7-Imp, for any new folks) and her boyfriend over the Thanksgiving holidays. <\/p>\n

I’m also taken with Jimmy’s notion (as in, Jimmy the Greatest<\/em> above) of being happy with what you’ve got. Also, Adam Rex makes me laugh. Always. <\/p>\n

What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The finished Mac and Adam puppets from Mac Barnett’s Chloe and the Lionwith pictures by Adam Rex   “Here’s Jimmy. He’s the guy with the shoes.”— From Jairo Buitrago’s Jimmy the Greatest, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng(Click to enlarge)   Since it’s almost December (GASP!), I decided to devote today’s post to two 2012 picture books […]<\/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-2467","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\/2467","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=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}