{"id":4798,"date":"2019-01-20T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T06:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4798"},"modified":"2019-01-19T21:22:19","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T03:22:19","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-622-featuring-ronan-badel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4798","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #622: Featuring Ronan Badel"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nI’ve got a French picture book import for you today, dear Imps. This story, written by Alexandre Lacroix<\/a><\/strong> and illustrated by Ronan Badel<\/a><\/strong>, was originally published in 2014 and was translated by Vanessa Mi\u00e9ville. Dragons in Love<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (words & pictures\/Quarto, January 2019) is all about the thrill (and maybe heartache) of first love. <\/p>\n

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This is the story of a little dragon named Drake. He often heads out of his cave, where he lives with his father, to play with the human children in the local playground. One day, “disaster struck.” One of Drake’s friends, Violet, kisses him on the snout. This is Drake’s first kiss, and he is left feeling “hot and confused.” Panicking, he flees. He is distraught that \u2014 despite liking the kiss (“In fact it felt soft”) \u2014 he can harm Violet if he were to ever kiss her back. He is a creature who breathes fire after all. He decides he’ll have to avoid Violet.
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(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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\nAfter confiding to his father, Drakes learns that he mustn’t feel ashamed. “When we dragons like someone,” his father tells him, “we breathe fire. It’s how we show our love.”
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“‘When I was young, I also fell in love. I had just met your mom, and invited her to come for a walk one evening. We went to the pond. The sun had just set and the sky was dark. And in that perfect moment, I felt so much love for that I blew a tower of flames
so high that they burnt the stars above.'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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“This explained why Drake had breathed fire after Violet kissed him. But it was no answer to the little dragon’s worries! Definitely not! It may be what dragons did,
but Violet would never speak to him again!”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\nDrake still isn’t sure, but as he’s walking near the park one day, he sees a bully picking on Violet and decides to put that fiery breath to use. (The bully gets a bit singed.) On the final spread, we see Drake and Violet on the park bench, together again. When Violet points to her cheek and hints at a kiss, Lacroix asks readers if they can guess what Drake does next. The end. Readers get to decide for themselves how the story ends. (However, the final endpages, if you look closely and if you lift the dustjacket up, give one possible interpretation.)
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“…’There’s no need to avoid me,’ she said. ‘I promise I’m not going to bite!’ Drake smiled. ‘Friends?’ he said. Violet nodded. ‘So, what are you waiting for?’ she asked, pointing to her cheek. And can you guess what Drake did next?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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\nBadel’s illustrations \u2014 similar in style to the artwork of Ole K\u00f6nnecke<\/a><\/strong>, whose work I also love \u2014 capture facial expressions and body language especially well. There’s a lot of dry humor here. In one illustration, Drake relieves stress by removing himself from Violet and breathing out “a huge spray of sparks and flames.” A hapless bird is nearly burnt to a crisp by the flame, and underneath it all rides an elderly man with a helmet on a bike, looking up in bewilderment (and maybe a bit of annoyance.) Drake’s father lounges in a sleeveless tee shirt on another spread, his boxers hanging on a line behind him as he talks to his son. Each spread is filled with humorous details, and both author and illustrator manage to capture the awkward realities of first love. (Fun fact: A visit to the author’s website<\/a><\/strong> indicates there are two other titles with the same characters.)
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(Click to enlarge cover)<\/em><\/center>
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\nDRAGONS IN LOVE. English language edition \u00a9 2019 Quarto Publishing plc. Original edition in French by Flammarion \u00a9 Flammarion 2014. Translated by Vanessa Mi\u00e9ville. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, words & pictures\/Quarto, Lake Forest, CA.<\/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> I was sad to hear about Mary Oliver’s passing<\/a><\/strong>, but I’m filled with gratitude for the gifts she left her readers. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> It has been quite the sight to see all the tributes to Oliver this week and people talking about how much her work meant to them. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> This whole thing<\/a><\/strong> made me sick to my stomach, but it’s good to see the outpouring of outrage over such vile, despicable behavior. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Dinner with friends and good conversation. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Building a new 2019 playlist … <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> … and finding out Patty Griffin<\/a><\/strong> will soon release a new album. (I also didn’t know till this week that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and has been taking time off for that, and I’m so glad she’s okay now.) <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> I am always grateful that my family has a roof over our heads and food on our table, but I’m especially aware these days, given the government shut-down and so many unemployed people trying to make ends meet, of how lucky we are. This tweet from Jacqueline Woodson includes ways we can all help. You can click on it to read more: <\/p>\n

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Can people tweet ways we can help the #FederalWorkers<\/a> #FederalEmployees<\/a> and their families struggling under the weight of this government shutdown?<\/p>\n

— Jacqueline Woodson (@JackieWoodson) January 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n