{"id":4430,"date":"2017-08-27T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T06:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2017-08-27T07:52:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T13:52:00","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-549-featuring-frank-w-dormer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4430","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #549: Featuring Frank W. Dormer"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s a pleasure to have Frank Dormer<\/a><\/strong> share some images here today from Firefighter Duckies!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Atheneum), a picture book published in May of this year, which has been met with a host of good reviews. Somehow, I didn’t see this one right away, though I was eager to. When I finally did read it, I was mighty entertained. It opens, delightfully, with some “WEE-OOO-WEE-OOO-WEE-OOO”s. Actually, before readers even get to the title page they see that the duckies of the book’s title have had to climb out of a lovely bubble bath, all in an effort to contain some chaos, as firefighters do. A firefighter’s work is never done, right? <\/p>\n

The firefighter duckies are brave and strong and rescue the likes of gorillas in chef hats, whales in trees, rampaging centipedes, and so much more that I just can’t give away. The font is super-sized and means business, and Dormer’s uncluttered, full-bleed spreads with their simple shapes and creative characters are great fun. There’s a ton of humor here; the duckies work themselves hard, because they are brave and strong. But they’re also helpful and kind, saving some lemurs (some smushed-up lemurs, mind you) and maybe even the alphabet. Yes, the alphabet. This is absurd, wildly ridiculous goodness for young readers, and it’s especially appealing, I think, to emerging readers (and is a perfect story-time choice). <\/p>\n

Also, the final cover is fabulous. And, when you hold a copy of the book in your hands, don’t forget to lift the dustjacket for a surprise. <\/p>\n

Frank shares a few illustrations from the book today — but also some preliminary images as well. I thank him for sharing.
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Above: Preliminary images (last image is a cover test)<\/em><\/center>
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Frank: “[This] is from walks I would take with our dog, Gus. Every day,
I would pass this mailbox and wonder why duckies were firefighters.
Until I hit upon the story that is out now.”<\/em><\/center>
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Above: Some final art<\/em>
(Click each to enlarge, and click final image to see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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\nFIREFIGHTER DUCKIES! Copyright \u00a9 2017 by Frank W. Dormer. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York. All images here reproduced by permission of Frank W. Dormer.<\/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

I hope all Texas readers are safe and sound.<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> Resistance. Dreams of impeachment.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Fresh bread. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> Finishing a good novel. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> A cool (not sweltering hot for once) day for biking. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> My daughters’ friends. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Re-discovering old songs you love but had nearly forgotten. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Surprises in the mail from thoughtful friends. <\/p>\n

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

  It’s a pleasure to have Frank Dormer share some images here today from Firefighter Duckies! (Atheneum), a picture book published in May of this year, which has been met with a host of good reviews. Somehow, I didn’t see this one right away, though I was eager to. When I finally did read it, […]<\/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-4430","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\/4430","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=4430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}