{"id":4279,"date":"2017-02-26T00:01:19","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T06:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4279"},"modified":"2017-02-28T11:03:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T17:03:44","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-523-featuring-holly-hobbie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4279","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #523: Featuring Holly Hobbie"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nToday, I’ve got some art from Holly Hobbie’s<\/a><\/strong> newest book, A Cat Named Swan<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Random House, February 2017). This is one for pet-lovers of all stripes, but especially cat fans — and a story about pet-adoption that is sweet but never saccharine. (P.S. I still can’t get over Hobbie’s Hansel and Gretel<\/em> from 2015. SO CREEPY-GOOD. There’s art from it here<\/a><\/strong> at 7-Imp in a conversation about scary books I had with Betsy Bird, Travis Jonker, and Minh L\u00ea.) <\/p>\n

(Also, it’s always so bizarre for me to even type “Holly Hobbie,” since my favorite doll as a kid—like, I never let it go and it ended up with this warped and misshapen rubber face from all my hugging—was a Holly Hobbie doll.)<\/p>\n

I love how A Cat Named Swan<\/em> opens: “Then he was alone.” Hobbie drops us right into the center of a story with little to no context about how a kitten ends up deserted. But that context doesn’t matter: The crux of the story is that the kitten’s family is suddenly gone, and he is stuck alone on dangerous streets. He ends up in a shelter and actually quite likes it. (“The new place was safe. Boredom was better than misery.”) And then it happens: He is “swept away” by a family, who names him Swan and calls him Swansie, and acclimates to his new home and surroundings. <\/p>\n

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And that’s it. There are no more plot turns; it’s a story of home, comfort, safety. It’s a story of metamorphosis, finding family — and a story of unconditional love. Hobbie shows the kitten’s life from varying perspectives—check out the one below from the point of view of the family members, eager to take home their new, albeit shocked, pet—and the palette is warm and sunny. The Kirkus<\/em> review<\/strong><\/a> notes: “While the unadorned text relies on language reflecting Swan\u2019s sensory and emotional responses, Hobbie\u2019s realistic pencil-and-watercolor illustrations provide visual details of his transition from the dingy grays, blacks, and browns of dirty city alleys to the glorious full-color countryside.” It’s beautiful. <\/p>\n

Here are some more spreads. …
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“The streets were a place of constant danger.”<\/em>
(Click to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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“Then the boredom ended. He was swept up. There were voices and laughter.
There was motion and sunshine and blue sky. He was swept away.”<\/em>
(Click to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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“… After breakfast, he bounded into the outdoors,
if it wasn’t raining or snowing, to make his usual rounds …”<\/em>
(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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\nIllustrations by Holly Hobbie from A CAT NAMED SWAN by Random House Books for Young Readers.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/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> Storytime yesterday with a room full of kids. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> SEVEN EARTH-SIZED PLANETS<\/a><\/strong> nearby!<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> This illustration in Brian Biggs’<\/a><\/strong> new board book, I’m a Librarian<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (coming to shelves in March):
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\nLooks like this male librarian might have a husband. Which is to say: Yay for inclusion. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Arrival<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Manchester by the Sea<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. (It’s a crushingly sad film—HAVE MERCY, LONERGAN—but so well-made.) <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> A morning-long visit with a friend. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> This<\/a><\/strong> new podcast is INTRIGUING. <\/p>\n

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

  Today, I’ve got some art from Holly Hobbie’s newest book, A Cat Named Swan (Random House, February 2017). This is one for pet-lovers of all stripes, but especially cat fans — and a story about pet-adoption that is sweet but never saccharine. (P.S. I still can’t get over Hobbie’s Hansel and Gretel from 2015. […]<\/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-4279","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\/4279","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=4279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}