{"id":5153,"date":"2020-07-26T00:01:47","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T06:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5153"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:03:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T22:03:20","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-701-featuring-sonia-sanchez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5153","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #701: Featuring Sonia S\u00e1nchez"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nForgive me, dear Imps, for writing about a picture book that won’t be on shelves till September, but I can’t help myself. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Candlewick), written by Newbery Medalist Meg Medina<\/a><\/strong> and illustrated by Sonia S\u00e1nchez<\/a><\/strong>, is the story of two best friends. They have one final day of play before one of them leaves for her new home. It’s moving day, but the two girls make the most of their last hours together. <\/p>\n

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The story is told from the point of view of Daniela, who tells us on page one that “Evelyn Del Rey is my mejor amiga, my n\u00famero uno best friend.” This first page hints at Evelyn’s impending move, Daniela adding that Evelyn has asked her to come play, “just like today is any other day.” <\/p>\n

One of this book’s many strengths is that Medina grounds the story in specifics. Daniela heads over to Evelyn’s, passing the moving truck and heaps of boxes, and they run through the apartment complex Evelyn will soon leave (they climb the steps two at a time, “just like we always do”); they pass Evelyn’s neighbors (Mr. Miller is always grumpy); and they play hide-and-seek (since their apartments are “almost twins, just like us,” Daniela knows the best places to hide). The joy they share in spending time together is almost palpable here \u2014 and becomes all the more poignant toward the end of the book when they must say goodbye to one another. Sticking some of Evelyn’s “sparkly stickers” on one another’s faces, they seal promises to one another \u2014 that they will always be n\u00famero uno best friends. <\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez brings to vivid life the girls’ homes and their neighborhood via highly patterned, textured illustrations, filled with energy and movement. The latter spreads, showing the girls outside, are particularly beguiling with orange and yellow autumn leaves on the ground, the girls holding tight to one another in a tight embrace in their solid red and blue coats. It’s a sparkling palette, this one. These are pages that sing with exuberance, as the girls run, play, and bond; their goodbye is a moving (no pun intended) and emotinally resonant one, knowing that all the glee we just witnessed will no longer happen on a daily basis. And the last page, which I won’t spoil for you, is especially touching, as we see that promises can be kept. <\/p>\n

Below are a few preliminary, making-of images from S\u00e1nchez\u2014I thank her for sharing\u2014as well as a couple of spreads from the book, which will be on shelves on September 8.
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Preliminary Images:<\/em><\/font><\/strong><\/center>
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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Some Final Spreads:<\/em><\/font><\/strong><\/center>
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“But the walls in Evelyn’s room are sunny yellow, while mine are pink like cotton candy. And I live with my mami and a hamster, and she has a mami, a papi, and a cat.
But we are mostly the same, just like our apartments. But not after today.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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“We say ‘\u00a1Patata!’ while Mama takes a photo. We do our secret handshake one more time. And then Evelyn hugs me hard.”
<\/em>(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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(Click cover to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

EVELYN DEL REY IS MOVING AWAY. Text copyright \u00a9 2020 by Meg Medina. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2020 by Sonia S\u00e1nchez and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA. Preliminary images reproduced by permission of Sonia S\u00e1nchez.<\/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> Walks in the park with friends (with social distancing, of course) and light rain to beat the heat. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> A porch visit with another friend. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I loved this piece<\/a><\/strong> from Kyle Lukoff. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Making it past a big work project that taught me new things. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Dreyer’s English<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> My kind, understanding teenage daughters. Always. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> This documentary<\/a><\/strong>. Hard to watch \u2014 but a compelling story. <\/p>\n

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

  Forgive me, dear Imps, for writing about a picture book that won’t be on shelves till September, but I can’t help myself. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away (Candlewick), written by Newbery Medalist Meg Medina and illustrated by Sonia S\u00e1nchez, is the story of two best friends. They have one final day of play […]<\/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-5153","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\/5153","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=5153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}