{"id":5307,"date":"2021-03-21T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-21T06:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5307"},"modified":"2021-03-22T15:29:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T21:29:12","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-735-featuring-dung-ho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5307","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #735: Featuring Dung Ho"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“My eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea are a revolution.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nOn the first spread of Joanna Ho’s<\/a><\/strong> Eyes That Kiss in the Corners<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Harper, January 2021), we see a young girl on her way out of the house, backpack on her shoulders. We see her from behind. She pauses by a mirror. What does she think when she sees her face? As she waves to classmates on the next spread \u2014 once again, we see her from behind \u2014 she notes that their eyes are shaped differently than hers. “I have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea,” we read when we finally see her face on the following spread (pictured below). She stares proudly at the reader. The girl is Asian, and she loves her eyes, which are just like her Mama’s and her Amah’s and<\/em> her sister’s. <\/p>\n

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This ode to self-acceptance, self-respect, and familial legacy features the sunny, brightly colored illustrations of Dung Ho<\/a><\/strong> in a style that recalls the work of classic Disney artists. The palette is largely one of warm, luminescent earth tones with the girl’s vivid crimson dress popping off the page. The spreads featuring her Amah (one is pictured below) sweep across the pages, Dung often depicting the subject of traditional Chinese stories that Amah shares (Guanyin with the Monkey King, in one instance). <\/p>\n

This is a house full of girls and women (as far as we can tell), and the narrator speaks devotedly of each throughout the book. There’s her mother: “When Mama tucks me in at night, her eyes tell me I’m a miracle.” Amah’s eyes are “filled with so many stories; I can fall inside them and swim until time stops.” Her younger sister’s eyes “disappear beneath her two-tooth smile when I walk in the door.” <\/p>\n

Joanna’s text flows like poetry: It is lyrical, evocative. And Dung fills these spreads with shapes that match the shapes of this family’s eyes. Look closely at flowers and their petals, feathers, the wallpaper, patterns on quilts \u2014 it is a book to linger over. And it bursts with dignity and joy. <\/p>\n

Here are some spreads. …
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(Two images above: Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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“Amah’s eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea
don’t work like they used to. …”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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“My eyes crinkle into crescent moons and sparkle like the stars. …”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)<\/center>
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EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS. Text copyright \u00a9 2021 by Joanna Ho. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2021 by Thi Hanh Dung Ho and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 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> In the wake of the horrific Atlanta shootings this past week, I appreciate this tweet from author Stephanie Lucianovic<\/a><\/strong>. Click on the tweet to head to Twitter to read the rest:
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A way to support the AAPI kidlit community is to buy and review their books. Stock your own shelves, stick them in little libraries, donate them to your school classrooms. I'll get you started.<\/p>\n

— Stephanie Lucianovic she\/her \ud83c\udf27\ufe0f (@grubreport) March 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n