{"id":3407,"date":"2014-05-18T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T06:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3407"},"modified":"2014-05-16T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T16:30:00","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-382-featuring-marianne-dubuc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3407","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #382: Featuring Marianne Dubuc"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi, dear Imps. I’m going to be brief today. I’m actually typing this on Thursday night, since I’m heading out of town to a) see my nephew graduate from high school (I’m already<\/em> teary-eyed about this, and I’m not even at the ceremony yet), and b) someone I used to babysit is all grown-up and I’m heading to her wedding. (Ditto on the tears.)<\/p>\n

So, I’ll be skipping my kicks, though I always enjoy reading yours, so please do share. I do, however, have some art for you. <\/p>\n

I’ve previously featured the work of Canadian author-illustrator Marianne Dubuc<\/a><\/strong> at 7-Imp — here<\/a><\/strong> and here<\/a><\/strong>. Her newest book, The Lion and the Bird<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Enchanted Lion, May 2014), is a tender and moving story of friendship, first published in French in 2013 and translated by Claudia Z. Bedrick (intrepid leader of Enchanted Lion and possessor of exquisite taste). Maria Popova over at Brain Pickings<\/em> writes that this book is an “ode to life\u2019s moments between the words.” Oh, how I love that and wish I’d written it. That captures the book well. (You can read her entire post, also art-filled, about the book here<\/a><\/strong>, if you’re so inclined. She describes the book so wonderfully.) <\/p>\n

The story is about a lion, who lives alone and one day finds a wounded bird. After nursing the bird lovingly, they become friends, and the bird stays on. Their friendship grows, but when Spring comes, Lion knows the bird must fly away. Lion adjusts to his loneliness, and then the following Winter, the bird returns. <\/p>\n

But, as Popova notes in her piece, there’s so much to discover in the book’s artwork and the expert pacing of the story. I remember reading once in a theatre text in college that a play is interrupted silence. (I think it was a quote from a French playwright? I really should look this up.) Well, this story is interrupted silence. Dubuc does wonders here, not rushing the story, letting it breathe, inviting in child readers to be with<\/em> Lion as he adjusts to his loneliness and melancholy after Bird leaves, as time marches on. A lot of the gentle pacing comes from Dubuc’s use of white space. (“White space\u2014sometimes whole pages\u2014speaks its own language of loss and hope,” writes the Kirkus<\/em> review.) For instance, here’s very simply how we know that Bird has returned:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Even that tiny musical note is on the right side of a giant white double-page spread, and the page before that<\/em> is white, too. Dubuc lets silence speak a lot here. <\/p>\n

There’s a lot of emotion, Dubuc conveying a great deal with her soft lines and warm palette. So much that is left unstated is conveyed in the expressive faces, if not in very economical words. “Yes, I know” is all that Lion says to Bird, as you can see below, when he realizes that Bird must fly away for Spring, and after his friend leaves, Dubuc merely writes: “And so it goes. Sometimes life is like that.” The story sings with an earnestness that is never too loud or trying too hard. It’s simply lovely. <\/p>\n

Here’s some more art. Enjoy. <\/p>\n

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


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“The snow is cold and icy, but you’re snug and warm.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“It snows and snows.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n


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That’s it for the art, but don’t toss and turn, worrying about Lion. Remember the illustration that opens this post? Yeah. That<\/em>. They are reunited. <\/p>\n

THE LION AND THE BIRD. Copyright \u00a9 2013 by Marianne Dubuc. First American edition \u00a9 2014 by Enchanted Lion Books, Brooklyn, NY. Images reproduced by 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>
<\/center><\/p>\n

Again, my apologies that I’m not kickin’ today, but as you read this, I’m heading back home. <\/p>\n

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

Hi, dear Imps. I’m going to be brief today. I’m actually typing this on Thursday night, since I’m heading out of town to a) see my nephew graduate from high school (I’m already teary-eyed about this, and I’m not even at the ceremony yet), and b) someone I used to babysit is all grown-up and […]<\/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-3407","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\/3407","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=3407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}