{"id":5428,"date":"2021-09-26T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T06:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5428"},"modified":"2021-09-26T10:37:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T16:37:12","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-762-featuring-ben-hatke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5428","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #762: Featuring Ben Hatke"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nJulia’s back! <\/p>\n

You all may remember Ben Hatke’s<\/a><\/strong> Julia’s House for Lost Creatures<\/em> (2014) \u2014 see lots of art here<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 and Julia’s House Moves<\/em> on from last year (see art here<\/a><\/strong>). Julia, we learned in book one, lives in a walking house and has a lot of unusual friends, misfit fantasy creatures of all kinds. There are mermaids, unicorns, goblins, fairies, and much more (including a dragon). Julia knows how to keep everyone safe \u2014 and is the consummate host. In the second book, released in 2020, we saw Julia’s house turn restless, but resilient Julia had a plan. When this new tale kicks off \u2014 Julia’s House Goes Home<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (First Second, October 2021) \u2014 we see that Julia’s house is roaming the hills once again, looking for a new place to land. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Julia’s house trips on the rocky path, and it rolls away \u2014 without Julia. After picking herself up, dusting herself off, and reuniting with an old frirend (pictured below, meow), she finds many of her friends scattered about. “Follow me!” she cries. As they march onward, looking for the house, Julia takes on some new outcasts, repeating, “We’ll make room!”<\/p>\n

On and on they marched, and everywhere it was the same. Old friends found. New faces joining in. There were more lost creatures in the world than Julia had ever imagined.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though Julia is usually resourceful and always hospitable, she starts to doubt her ability to house all the magical creatures she meets on this adventure. And things get worse when she finds merely a part<\/em> of the house \u2014 just the front door. But her friends, new and old, have a plan. And it’s one that results in a spectacular conclusion. <\/p>\n

Fans of this series will be thrilled to see Julia’s return. Hatke’s lush watercolor illustrations sparkle with color and warmth (as always), and<\/em> in this installment of the series readers get to meet a mountain king, “the largest of all trolls” (not pictured below) \u2014 a dramatic and satisyfing moment. <\/p>\n

This is evidently the conclusion of the series, and it’s been a joyful ride. Julia’s a memorable character, and I love to see the menagerie of magical creatures that appear on the page when Hatke’s imagination is sparked. <\/p>\n

Here are some spreads so that this eloquent art can do the talking. …
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\n<\/a>
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“Julia’s house roamed the high hills, looking for a home.
And so, when Julia saw the Perfect Spot glittering it the distance, she told her creatures,
‘That’s where we’re going.’ And all the creatures cheered.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“But the path from the high hills to the valley was ROCKY and ROUGH.
‘BE CAREFUL!’ shouted Julia. But it was TOO LATE.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“Just as Julia was getting really lonely, a familiar face appeared in the dark.
It was Patched Up Kitty! ‘Come on,’ said Julia. ‘Let’s go find our house.'”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“They walked on until a sweet voice cut through the gloom. It was a unicorn.
‘I found your mermaid,’ it said.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“‘ATTENTION, PLEASE!’ Julia called. The creatures all looked up at her,
with their teeth and talons and horns. Julia took a deep breath. ‘I have something to say,’ she began. ‘It’s about the house\u2014’ But before she could continue,
the ground began to SHAKE.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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(Click cover to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nJULIA’S HOUSE GOES HOME. \u00a9 2021 Ben Hatke. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, First Second Books, 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’s Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/center><\/p>\n

I’ve had a busy week with lots of work projects, so I’m going to keep things short today in an effort to walk away from my computer monitor. My kicks, one to seven, are captured in this series and, really, Ben Hatke’s work in general<\/a><\/strong>. I love seeing picture books with fantasy characters this well-done. <\/p>\n

I tip my hat to Julia, and I’m glad she was around for three whole books. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Julia’s back! You all may remember Ben Hatke’s Julia’s House for Lost Creatures (2014) \u2014 see lots of art here \u2014 and Julia’s House Moves on from last year (see art here). Julia, we learned in book one, lives in a walking house and has a lot of unusual friends, misfit fantasy creatures of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428","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=5428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}