{"id":2581,"date":"2013-06-09T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T06:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2013-06-09T00:02:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T06:02:14","slug":"7-imp%e2%80%99s-7-kicks-334-featuring-quentin-blake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2581","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #334: Featuring Quentin Blake"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“That night they dreamed of being a horse.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

I’m going to be short and sweet about today’s featured picture book, primarily because I’ve only got one spread from it. But, since it’s Quentin Blake<\/a><\/strong>, I’m hardly complaining. <\/p>\n

This is the first U.S. edition of Russell Hoban’s<\/a><\/strong> Rosie’s Magic Horse<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Candlewick, February 2013), illustrated by Blake. (It was originally released in the UK, I assume, in 2012.) This was evidently the last picture book from Hoban, who died in 2011. (“Hoban’s books asked big questions, and the answers were sometimes murky and mournful,” Publishers Weekly<\/em> has written, “but this last one is a happy farewell salute.”)<\/p>\n

And the story is wonderfully bizarre. It is about, of all things, a discarded ice-pop stick, who is picked up by a girl named Rosie. Rosie puts this stick in her ice-pop stick collection in a cigar box. Suddenly, readers are inside the box, listening to the popsicle sticks talk: “Without our ice-pops, we are nothing.” But the newest stick in the collection dreams of being a horse. (See above. All<\/em> the sticks, it turns out, dream of being horses.) <\/p>\n

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(Click to enlarge cover)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Rosie’s family is struggling financially, and as she falls asleep one night, she wishes that her cigar box were a treasure chest for paying bills. Playing with the sticks on her bedspread, she turns them into a horse. “A horse can’t pay the bills,” she says and dozes off. At midnight, a horse, which she names Stickerino, leaps out of the cigar box, gallops far away, and takes Rosie to some pirates. And, yes, Rosie gets her hands on a treasure chest, with thanks to Stickerino, eventually surprising her father. <\/p>\n

Pamela Paul covered this one<\/a><\/strong> in the New York Times<\/em>, praising its “sheer exuberance.” She also writes that the “story is inventive from the very first pages, when it becomes apparent that the narrator is in fact a Popsicle stick.” Told ya it was bizarre. Popsicle sticks looking for empowerment and identity? Can’t say that I’ve seen that covered in a picture book yet. <\/p>\n

Blake’s illustrations are nearly luminescent in spots (the gorgeous pink and orange popsicle-esque endpages, for one). It’s a magical, truly quirky adventure, one in which the rules need not apply, nor does common sense, really. <\/p>\n

ROSIE’S MAGIC HORSE. Text copyright \u00a9 2012 by Russell Hoban. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2012 by Quentin Blake. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.<\/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>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Heaven bless radio host Eric Cocks, who interviewed Sam Phillips<\/a><\/strong> this week and played IN FULL (!) some of her new songs from her forthcoming CD. Sam describes the first song that Eric plays, called “All Over Me,” as “my attempt at a gospel song by way of Zen and Walt Whitman.” And IT IS KILLER-GOOD.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> You gotta watch this. It’s all of three minutes. I absolutely love Willie Nelson’s original title for the song “Crazy.” <\/p>\n