{"id":3794,"date":"2015-07-19T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-19T06:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3794"},"modified":"2015-07-18T15:39:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-18T21:39:07","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-441-featuring-cece-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3794","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #441: Featuring Cece Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Good morning, fellow imps. I’m highlighting a bit of artwork today from award-winning author-illustrator Cece Bell’s<\/a><\/strong> newest picture book, I Yam a Donkey!<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, published by Clarion Books in June. <\/p>\n

There are several things I like about this book (whose story starts on the title page itself)—its humor, its memorable two main characters, its irreverence—but my favorite thing is that it is inherently subversive, if you consider the existence of prescriptive linguistics<\/a><\/strong>, which is concerned about the rules governing what people should or shouldn’t say (rather, how<\/em> they say it). Descriptive<\/em> linguistics is concerned with how language is used<\/em>, instead of telling people how to use language properly. <\/p>\n

Prescriptive linguists would shake their fist at this entertaining story, complete with a tongue-in-cheek moral, and that is part of its beauty. Or, as the Publishers Weekly<\/em> review notes, “pedants who can\u2019t adapt will be left in the dust.” And that’s because it’s all about a donkey who has a particular way of talking, though the stubborn and opinionated grammarian yam he meets keeps telling him he’s talking incorrectly. Or, as the vegetables watching it all go down (well, most of it) put it, it’s a “big fight about grammar.” The ending is delicious in more ways than one, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. <\/p>\n

I was just about to tell you all about Cece’s art for the book, rendered in china marker and acrylics, but you can see for yourself below. <\/p>\n

p.s. Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my 2008 breakfast interview with Cece. (Was it really seven years ago?)
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(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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\nI YAM A DONKEY! Copyright \u00a9 2015 by Cece Bell. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Clarion Books\/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston.<\/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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1)<\/strong><\/font> I spoke this past week in Knoxville about the best children’s books of the year (well, the best books from last Fall and this Spring) at an event I participate in yearly<\/a><\/strong>, and it was (as always) good fun. I always enjoy hearing my colleagues speak as well. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> My daughters went with me, and we made a little trip out of it. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> They don’t often get to see<\/em> me work, so I hope they enjoyed hearing me talk about picture books (though they mostly sat in the back and read). <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> I got to catch up with friends, while in Knoxville and Maryville. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> The new issue<\/a><\/strong> of the Horn Book<\/em>. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Story time. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> It’s good to be home. <\/p>\n

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

Good morning, fellow imps. I’m highlighting a bit of artwork today from award-winning author-illustrator Cece Bell’s newest picture book, I Yam a Donkey!, published by Clarion Books in June. There are several things I like about this book (whose story starts on the title page itself)—its humor, its memorable two main characters, its irreverence—but my […]<\/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-3794","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\/3794","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=3794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}