{"id":4126,"date":"2016-08-21T00:01:23","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T06:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4126"},"modified":"2016-08-20T22:00:56","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T04:00:56","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-497-featuring-b-b-cronin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4126","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #497: Featuring B. B. Cronin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“In his green living room are seats, saucers, statues, and two socks.
Where are Grandad’s socks?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\nThis morning here at 7-Imp, I’m highlighting some spreads from Brian Cronin’s<\/a><\/strong> The Lost House: A Seek and Find Book<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, coming to shelves at the end of September from Viking. The book was just given the Gold Medal by the Society of Illustrator’s Original Art 2016 jury. (Read here<\/a><\/strong> for more information.)<\/p>\n

In this story, readers enter a world of electric, saturated hues, meeting two grandchildren who are ready to head to the playground with their grandfather, but they can’t quite get out of the house. Grandad is forgetful and keeps asking them to help him find what he needs — his socks, his teeth, his umbrella, his bow tie, his cloth tote bag, etc. (though I like how the Publishers Weekly<\/em> review notes: “To call this a seek-and-find book doesn\u2019t come close to conveying the eccentricity of newcomer Cronin\u2019s creation”). <\/p>\n

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Calling Grandad’s house cluttered is an understatement, and readers have to work hard to find the hidden objects on each spread. Cronin’s use of color is playful, going beyond mere one-color dedications to each spread (the green spread, the magenta spread, etc.), which certainly makes the seeking-and-finding more challenging; readers will also see occasional splashes of other colors that draw the eye, mostly on our characters. It’s great fun and a book to pore over, and reviewers have described it as clever, visually engaging, elegant, and more. This one definitely stands out on crowded bookshelves. <\/p>\n

Cronin is originally from Ireland and now lives in Brookyln, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker<\/em> and The New York Times<\/em>. Let’s take a look at some more spreads from this book.
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“In his shiny red kitchen, there are shelves full of dishes, a salt shaker,
and a tin full of sugar. But where are Grandad’s shoes?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“In the pink drawing room, there are pairs of galoshes and plenty of glass lamps.
There should also be a pair of Grandad’s glasses in here. Where are they?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“Grandad sees that it may start to rain. He will need an umbrella. It’s in this blue hallway—maybe by that pair of underwear or under that unstable table?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“In the purple reading room, time is ticking.
It’s getting late, but where is Grandad’s old pocket watch?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“Grandad is sure he left his house keys up in the brown attic
with some kite string and a kettle. Where could they be?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
\n
“In the magenta mezzanine, there are mirrors, mugs, and a mouse.
Grandad has two telephones. Where is his mobile phone?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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(Click to enlarge spread)<\/em><\/center>
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\nTHE LOST HOUSE. Copyright \u00a9 2016 by Brian Cronin. Illustrations used by permission of the publisher, Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York.<\/em><\/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> Time with my friend. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Almost<\/em> getting all my picture books unpacked. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> Giving away books. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Story time at Parnassus Books this weekend. I had some super clever, adorable children listening. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Pool. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Naps. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Q&As. <\/p>\n

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

“In his green living room are seats, saucers, statues, and two socks.Where are Grandad’s socks?”(Click to enlarge spread)   This morning here at 7-Imp, I’m highlighting some spreads from Brian Cronin’s The Lost House: A Seek and Find Book, coming to shelves at the end of September from Viking. The book was just given the […]<\/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-4126","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\/4126","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=4126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}