{"id":2625,"date":"2013-08-25T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T06:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2625"},"modified":"2013-08-25T00:01:06","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T06:01:06","slug":"7-imp%e2%80%99s-7-kicks-345-featuring-benjamin-chaud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2625","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #345: Featuring Benjamin Chaud"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Papa Bear’s ears twitch at the sound of two paws clapping.
‘Bravo, Papa!’ says Little Bear. ‘That was beautiful!’
‘I have a surprise for you!’ Little Bear explains,
‘I followed the bee, and you must see what I found!'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

This morning I’ve got an international import, coming to shelves in September from Chronicle Books. Benjamin Chaud’s<\/a><\/strong> The Bear’s Song<\/a><\/strong><\/em> was originally published in France in 2011. Those of you who closely follow international picture books may recognize Chaud’s name: He’s the creator of the Pomelo<\/em><\/a><\/strong> books. <\/p>\n

This very tall book tells the very fun tale of a young bear who runs away from home, right on the tail of a bee. The bee has caught his eye, deep in the forest where he lives — just as he’s about to relax with his Papa Bear and begin hibernation. Little Bear has honey, and only honey, on the mind, so off he goes. When Papa Bear realizes his boy is gone, he chases his son, looking high and low, and the adventure begins. <\/p>\n

Move over, Waldo. Chaud provides very detailed seek-and-find spreads here. First, Papa Bear looks all over the forest; then, the city; then, inside the lobby of the opera house. <\/p>\n

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“Papa Bear wakes with a start. ‘Where did my Little Bear run off to now?’ he wonders. With a bounce and a bound, Papa Bear dashes through the trees.
He searches every corner of the forest, but he just can’t find his cub.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

These are spreads for poring over, for taking in all the little details. (I’ve only read this to my own daughters, not yet a group of children, who lingered over each spread, even determining who or what they would be in each spread, if they could hop into the story.) It’s fun to spot Little Bear, as well as take in the details, humor, and brief storylines embedded into each spread. <\/p>\n

Chaud builds the tension well. It’s never a traumatic nail-biter, this notion of a child, albeit the furry kind, running away. It’s light-hearted and even entertaining, following Papa Bear as he eventually barrels his way into an opera house and even “snuffles his snout through a backstage door.” Theatre-lovers will really enjoy this particular spread:<\/p>\n

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“Papa Bear snuffles his snout through a backstage door, startling a flock of strange, feathered birds who squawk as they scatter. With no time to apologize,
Papa Bear flees! Downstairs, then up, toward the sweet sounds of music. Until…”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

He follows, as you can see there, the “sweet sounds of music” until, lo and behold, he finds himself hanging from a chandelier on the opera’s mainstage. He’s frozen in fear, as the audience stares at him, and then decides to sing Little Bear’s favorite lullaby in the hopes it will lure his child to him. <\/p>\n

And the results—I can’t give it all<\/em> away, you know—are both funny and sweet. But just-right sweet, not maudlin sweet. There’s a quirkiness to this story that I like, and Little Bear’s nonchalance regarding the havoc he’s wreaked is particularly amusing to me. <\/p>\n

This is also a well-translated book, with moments of pleasing alliteration—“A busy sort of buzzing beckons him instead”—and understated moments of humor. (My favorite is the narrator’s “Oh. Never mind” right before Papa Bear, from stage, decides to sing.)<\/p>\n

It’s a joyous romp, this French import, and definitely worth exploring. <\/p>\n

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

THE BEAR’S SONG. Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Benjamin Chaud. English translation copyright \u00a9 2013 by Chronicle Books, San Francisco. All images used with permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/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

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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My kicks today are that my girls completed their first week back at school, and now it’s the weekend and feels like summer again — in that we have more time and can do things together OR just laze about, enjoying later bedtimes and a more relaxed schedule. Also, that—on the day I type this (Saturday)—I’m about to head out with some good high school friends and visit a favorite Italian restaurant and then see a movie I’ve been eager to see<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

As always, it’s the simple things. How about you? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Papa Bear’s ears twitch at the sound of two paws clapping.‘Bravo, Papa!’ says Little Bear. ‘That was beautiful!’‘I have a surprise for you!’ Little Bear explains,‘I followed the bee, and you must see what I found!’”(Click to enlarge spread) This morning I’ve got an international import, coming to shelves in September from Chronicle Books. Benjamin […]<\/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-2625","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\/2625","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=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}