{"id":3231,"date":"2013-10-13T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2013-10-13T06:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2013-10-12T15:19:04","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T21:19:04","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-352-featuring-taro-miura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3231","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #352: Featuring Taro Miura"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“The Tiny King ate alone at a big, big table.
A huge feast of delicious food was laid out every day.
But the Tiny King was just one tiny person.
He could never finish so much food all by himself.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a Tiny King.” <\/p>\n

That’s the opening to Taro Miura’s The Tiny King<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, originally published in Japan in 2010 but released here in the States by Candlewick just last week. This is the story of how one very diminutive ruler lived alone in a huge castle, save his “army of big soldiers with long spears and stern faces.” As you can see above, he eats alone at a big, big table — and, in fact, he does just about everything alone. <\/p>\n

Things like giant bathtubs are no fun, if you’re splishing and splashing by yourself (even if there are water fountains). A big white horse might be some<\/em> company, but not if you’re so tiny that you fall off every time you try to ride it. <\/p>\n

You get the idea. <\/p>\n

Then one day, the Tiny King meets and falls in love with a big princess, and they are happily married. They are blessed with lots of children. Life is now happy for the king. <\/p>\n

The End. <\/p>\n

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“Now the Tiny King’s castle no longer felt so big.
The children ran around, laughing and playing all day long.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

If you read only a plot summary, this one sounds like a clunker, but it’s not. Miura’s digital—and very geometric—collage illustrations are endearing, and they tell a cheery story of acceptance. The book is strikingly designed, its story simple and illustrations bold and bright. <\/p>\n

Here’s the thoroughly delightful cover. (Yes, that is the actual size of the Tiny King!) … <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE TINY KING. Copyright \u00a9 2010 by Taro Miura. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.<\/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>
<\/center><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> The opportunity and good fortune to have a short vacation.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> The stars at the shore on a cloudless night. <\/p>\n

2\u00bd)<\/strong><\/font> Hammocks. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> The Southern Festival of Books<\/a><\/strong> is this weekend in Nashville. I’ve gone to see what sessions I could, and I had the pleasure of introducing Philip<\/a><\/strong> and Erin Stead<\/a><\/strong> at their Saturday session. Their session was one of those that made me want to stand up and say, Now, THIS is why I studied children’s literature,<\/em> because they talked about the unique art form that is the picture book. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> I really enjoyed Rita Williams-Garcia’s<\/a><\/strong> P.S. Be Eleven<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (as well as One Crazy Summer<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, which I’d never read back in 2010), and I just started Holly Goldberg Sloan’<\/a>s<\/strong> Counting by 7s<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, which I’m enjoying thus far. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Nice words from some authors who have read galleys of our book<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> You know you wanna do it.<\/a><\/strong> (Buttercup Sparkle Mane at your service.)<\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Last, but far from least, my youngest daughter (pictured below) turns 8 years old this week. (If she were a unicorn, she’d be Fern Silver Bridle.) <\/p>\n

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

“The Tiny King ate alone at a big, big table.A huge feast of delicious food was laid out every day.But the Tiny King was just one tiny person.He could never finish so much food all by himself.”(Click to enlarge spread)   “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a Tiny […]<\/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-3231","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\/3231","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=3231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}