{"id":4024,"date":"2016-03-27T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T06:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4024"},"modified":"2016-03-26T20:58:34","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T02:58:34","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-476-featuring-helen-oxenbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4024","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #476: Featuring Helen Oxenbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Jack, Zack, and Caspar, brave mariners three,
were building a galleon down by the sea.
Up rose the sides and the stern and the bow.
Zack, the ship’s bosun, worked hard on the prow.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\nToday, I’ve got some artwork from the great Helen Oxenbury<\/a><\/strong>. On shelves this month from Dial is Captain Jack and the Pirates<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, written by Peter Bently<\/a><\/strong>. The book was originally published last year in the UK and was evidently shortlisted for the Kate Greeenaway Medal. <\/p>\n

The story is the rhyming adventure of three young boys, engaging in imaginative pirate play on the shore on a warm, sunny day. The boys’ imagination takes them far — rolling on the high seas, running from pirates and roaring hurricanes. They’re young, these adventure-seekers; one is even in a diaper and can usually be seen with his pacifier. Oxenbury’s watercolors are expressive and detailed; the color spreads are full-bleed, as if readers are right there with the boys on their undertaking, and occasionally we see pencil sketches, breaking up the action and giving readers a breath. As usual, Oxenbury puts the endpapers to use to help tell even more of the boys’ story, which all wraps up with the parents calling the boys to the table for sweets and ice cream. (Mmm.)<\/p>\n

The Kirkus<\/em> review calls the book “gently and agreeably thrilling.” Yes. That. Below is one more spread. Enjoy!<\/p>\n


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“‘Ahoy, men!’ cried Jack with a chortle of pleasure.
‘An enemy pirate ship, laden with treasure!’
‘Steer a course after them, good Bosun Zack!’
And Zack answered brightly, ‘Aye, aye, Captain Jack!'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\nCAPTAIN JACK AND THE PIRATES. Text copyright \u00a9 2015 by Peter Bently. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2015 by Helen Oxenbury. Illustrations used by permission of the publisher, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/center><\/p>\n

I’m going to keep it short this week, since you may be out hunting for Easter eggs and I’m busy averting the gaze of giant bunnies delivering candy. (I always thought that was the weirdest<\/em> of all holiday traditions — giant, fuzzy bunnies hoppin’ into my home.)<\/p>\n

I hope you all have a great Easter, however you celebrate it. And Happy Spring! <\/p>\n

Do tell me, if you’re so inclined: What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Jack, Zack, and Caspar, brave mariners three,were building a galleon down by the sea.Up rose the sides and the stern and the bow.Zack, the ship’s bosun, worked hard on the prow.”(Click to enlarge spread)   Today, I’ve got some artwork from the great Helen Oxenbury. On shelves this month from Dial is Captain Jack 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-4024","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\/4024","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=4024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}