{"id":5259,"date":"2021-01-10T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-10T06:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5259"},"modified":"2021-01-09T14:06:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T20:06:58","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-725-featuring-leuyen-pham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5259","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #725: Featuring LeUyen Pham"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nOn shelves now is LeUyen Pham’s newest picture book, all about living during the pandemic \u2014 Outside, Inside<\/em> (Roaring Brook). I’ve seen quite a few books published in response to COVID-19, but I think this one does a superb job of capturing the ways in which the pandemic has wreaked great havoc, while also acknowledging the hope that one day this will all end. To be blunt, I’m not fond of the books that spin the pandemic in only positive ways, such as the hey, we may be stuck inside, but we get to spend more time together!<\/em> approach. (People have died. Let’s do a better job of reading the room.) I would highly recommend handing LeUyen’s book to a child, though. It gets<\/em> it. <\/p>\n

I’ve a review of the book over at BookPage<\/em>. That is here<\/a><\/strong>, if you’d like to read more about it. <\/p>\n

I also got to ask LeUyen all about making the book. That chat\u2014in which she talks about cataloging the world as it is (“Outside, Inside<\/em> was the first time I really allowed myself to paint exactly what I saw”)\u2014is here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

And here at 7-Imp (below) are some spreads from the book.
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“Everyone. Everywhere. Alll over the world.”<\/em>
(Click spread to large)<\/center>
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“Everyone just went inside, shut their doors, and waited.”<\/em>
(Click spread to large)<\/center>
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“Inside, we baked and cooked, made music and watched TV. We read and played games.
Some of us worked a little, some of worked a lot …
and some of us couldn’t work at all. We all felt a little different.”<\/em>
(Click spread to large)<\/center>
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“Outside, there were fences both real and pretend. Swings sat still,
and slides were lonely. Bells didn’t ring, and halls were empty. We had birthdays without parties, shared words without sounds, and reached each other without touching.
The world was changing a tiny bit outside.”<\/em>
(Click spread to large)<\/center>
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(Click cover to large)<\/em><\/center>
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\nOUTSIDE, INSIDE. Copyright \u00a9 2021 by LeUyen Pham. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Roaring Brook Press, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * Jules’s Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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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

1)<\/strong><\/font> Georgia!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> What can I say about the other news this week, you all? It was infuriating. I appreciate voices of reason, such as Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change: <\/p>\n

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Something that has been made clear:<\/p>\n

We need to stop saying \u201cThis is not who we are\u201d in \u201cAmerica.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, this is not who and what the United States should be, but denial won\u2019t make the injustices and inhumane ideologies less so.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t change without truth.<\/p>\n

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 7, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n