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\nAs I’ve made clear before here at 7-Imp<\/a><\/strong>, I’m a fan of Abby Hanlon’s<\/a><\/strong> Dory Fantasmagory<\/em> books. I think Abby taps into something real (and often quite poignant) with these books; in the hands of a lesser author, Dory’s antics would be altogether cloying. But Abby seems to know how to write about childhood in a way I think is authentic. She depicts children as they are<\/em> \u2014 in all their glorious weirdness, that is \u2014 and not in ways that an adult thinks they should<\/em> be. (We see a lot of the latter in children’s books.) It’s hard to get books for this age right, and I think Abby gets it just<\/em> right. <\/p>\n
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Also, the books make me laugh so hard that I think I’m going to split right in half. They do the same for my daughters, who are now teenagers. When there’s a new Dory<\/em> book, we still curl up together and take it all in, often having to put the book down for the laughing ALL THE LAUGHING<\/strong><\/font>. (No, these books aren’t made for teens, but my own still get a big kick out of Dory. She is that<\/em> entertaining, and the books are terrifically funny.) If you’re a fan of Marshall’s books (and, arguably, his best picture book ever), you’ll get<\/em> this. How fitting for this subversive character to reference a book so iconic in its subversiveness \u2014 and genuine weirdness. (Also, Happy Little Farm<\/em>, as well as Dory’s growl? This also slays me. OF COURSE she’d growl after missing out on the chance to get a story about Grandfather Stupid. OF COURSE she’d growl at an adult who is assuming she wants something only sweet and simple. Keep on growlin’, Dory.) <\/p>\n Thanks to Abby for letting me share. … DORY FANTASMAGORY: TINY TOUGH. Copyright \u00a9 2019 by Abby Hanlon. Published by Dial Books for Young Readers, New York. All images here used by permission of Abby Hanlon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I’ve made clear before here at 7-Imp, I’m a fan of Abby Hanlon’s Dory Fantasmagory books. I think Abby taps into something real (and often quite poignant) with these books; in the hands of a lesser author, Dory’s antics would be altogether cloying. But Abby seems to know how to write about childhood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intermediate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958","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=4958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nSo, it was with interest that I read the latest in the series (the fifth book), Dory Fantasmagory: Tiny Tough<\/em><\/a><\/strong> (coming to shelves in early October from Dial). I laughed. I cried. I cried from laughing. And the book’s first four pages made me so happy, as the fan I am of the work of James Marshall<\/a><\/strong>, that I was nearly glowing. I asked Abby for permission to post them here. <\/p>\n
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