{"id":4334,"date":"2017-04-30T00:01:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T06:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4334"},"modified":"2018-08-11T11:33:12","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T17:33:12","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-532-featuring-jerry-pinkney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4334","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #532: Featuring Jerry Pinkney"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Bravely, that little billy goat Gruff trotted across the bridge.”<\/em>
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Award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Pinkney<\/a><\/strong> has taken it upon himself in the past several years to bring us lucky readers a series of classic-tale picture book adaptations, including the 2010 Caldecott-winning The Lion and the Mouse<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. His latest, coming to shelves in early May, is The Three Billy Goats Gruff<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Little, Brown), and it may be my favorite. Because there’s nothing, I have learned, quite like a troll as Pinkney does it. Masterfully-rendered is this troll, as you can see above. <\/p>\n

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This is the classic tale as we know it — with a few twists, which Pinkney explains in a closing Artist’s Note. (I’m not usually a fan of lengthy notes at the close of a picture book that explain what we’re seeing, but Pinkney always makes it worth your time.) For one, he adds a giant fish to the tale, one that threatens to eat the troll—yes, the troll—near the story’s close, just after the biggest billy goat has defeated the troll. (Pinkney has his reasons for this addition.) For another thing, if you look closely at the closing endpapers, you see that there’s much more to the story: Do the troll and the goats come to some sort of peace in the end? That’s for readers, as Pinkney notes, to decide. <\/p>\n

Pinkney packs a lot of action into these spreads, yet he manages to pace it all well. The story brims with energy and movement, and a gatefold flap, right where the biggest billy goat Gruff meets the troll, steals the show. The book plays with font size in effective ways, and Pinkney’s paintings are textured and detailed. I’ve a couple more spreads here to show you what I mean.
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“‘It is I’<\/strong><\/font>, the biggest billy goat announced. …”<\/em>
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“‘WHO’S THAT SPLISH-SPLASHING
IN MY RIVER?’<\/strong><\/font>“<\/em>
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\nTHE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF. Copyright \u00a9 2017 by Jerry Pinkney. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, 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>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Betsy Bird<\/a><\/strong> and I pay tribute to the late Peter Sieruta<\/a><\/strong> in the latest issue of the Horn Book<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. I really wish Peter could see that the Horn Book<\/em> calls him their “funniest writer.” <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> A special project in the works for a friend. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I got tickets to see Joan Shelley<\/a><\/strong> live in June. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> I finally got around to ordering a print from Phoebe Wahl<\/a><\/strong> at her shop<\/a><\/strong> (remember when she was a featured up-and-coming illustrator here at 7-Imp<\/a><\/strong> in 2013?), because dang, she’s good. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> The best cheese enchilada I’ve ever had at Nashville’s Taqueria del Sol<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> I think this was the very<\/em> best thing about my week: I read Deborah Heiligman’s<\/a><\/strong> Vincent and Theo<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. It is so good that I devoured that 464-page book in two or three days. More on that later, as I’ll be chatting with her about the book at Kirkus<\/em>.
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\n7)<\/strong><\/font> Yesterday, I caught one of those Facebook live video thingies, to be precise, where Laura Marling<\/a><\/strong> was singing one of her lesser-known songs that I love oh-so much, “Daisy.” (The song, not the live one, is below: “A woman alone is not a woman undone.”)
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