{"id":4920,"date":"2019-07-28T00:01:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T06:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4920"},"modified":"2019-07-28T07:49:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T13:49:25","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-648-featuring-robert-neubecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4920","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #648: Featuring Robert Neubecker"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nThere’s been a long history of anthropomorphic vehicles in children’s books and in children’s entertainment \u2014 from Little Toot<\/a><\/strong> and Pedro<\/strong><\/a> to Cars<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. Robert Neubecker’s<\/a><\/strong> Little Smokey<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Knopf, August 2019) provides a modern twist with an environmental edge, given the frequency of forest fires in this country. <\/p>\n

Everyone has a job at the Nif-C, or National Interagency Fire Center. There’s Buster the air tanker, who sprays water on forest fires; Bruno the water scooper, who retrieves water from rivers and lakes for attacking flames; and Bertha the Very Large Air Tanker, who carries fire retardant. The hero of the book’s title starts the story without a name, because at Nif-C, “you have to earn your name.” When the summer gets hot and “the country grows dry,” the planes take off with a giant roar. The little plane is told she can’t help, but she practices her flying nonetheless. When a fire spreads into a canyon yet the big planes are unable to attack it, the little plane begs: “I can fly fast! I can fly low! I can help! Please let me go!” Indeed, she’s small enough to pour water down in just the right place, allowing the bigger planes to soar in and wrap things up. The little plane flies back, feeling triumphant and covered in smoke \u2014 and is dubbed, finally, Little Smokey. <\/p>\n

Neubecker’s landscapes-afire spreads are breathtaking and dramatic. There is an almost inevitably retro look to these illustrations featuring animated planes, but Neubecker also keeps things modern with a diverse cast of humans on the runways, as well as female mechanics. But the determined planes are the real stars of the show, and children will root for the little plane that could. In the spread where she finally gets to fly to the blazing fires, we even see what looks like her tongue stuck out to the side in concentration. (That is pictured below.) I love it. <\/p>\n

Appended is information about how wildfires start; who fights them; what the reader can do to help avoid them; and more. Here are some spreads so that Neubecker’s art can do the talking.
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“Bertha is the biggest plane. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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“She practices her flying, venturing farther into the forest each day. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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“The wind comes up. Flash! Flare! …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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(Click first image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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“The little plane pours water down, down. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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\nLITTLE SMOKEY. Copyright \u00a9 2019 by Robert Neubecker. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, 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> A four-mile, early-morning hike with a friend and our daughters earlier this week. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> This<\/a><\/strong> open letter. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> Dark<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. I’m mildly to moderately OBSESSED. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Nearing the end of my picture book grad course. Hope my students have enjoyed it. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> I’m traveling to Concord, Mass, today and will see co-workers whose company I enjoy but only see in person once a year. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> New novels you can’t wait to crack open. …<\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> … and if I’m going to be stuck on a plane today, I think I’ll do just that<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

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

  There’s been a long history of anthropomorphic vehicles in children’s books and in children’s entertainment \u2014 from Little Toot and Pedro to Cars. Robert Neubecker’s Little Smokey (Knopf, August 2019) provides a modern twist with an environmental edge, given the frequency of forest fires in this country.<\/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-4920","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\/4920","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=4920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}