{"id":5478,"date":"2021-12-05T00:01:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T06:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5478"},"modified":"2021-12-04T11:42:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T17:42:03","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-772-featuring-ekua-holmes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5478","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #772: Featuring Ekua Holmes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Azaria’s house is next to the park. That girl can really jump some rope! She can do Double Dutch on one leg at a time. She can turn around and touch the ground. She can jump by herself with two ropes. She can even dance, jupm, and dream of winning a shiny trophy one day, all at the same time. When she flies down the street, swinging her rope, she lifts her long brown legs as high as the sun.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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I think that the smartest way I can tell you about Tricia Elam Walker’s<\/a><\/strong> Dream Street<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Anne Schwartz Books, November 2021), illustrated by Ekua Holmes<\/a><\/strong>, is to suggest you read Dr. Michelle Martin’s review of it<\/a><\/strong> at the Horn Book<\/em>, because she does such an eloquent job of describing it (“a stunning work of art that \u00addismantles stereotypes about Black communities and portrays a place where love abounds”). The book, as another review notes, is more like a string of character studies than it is a story. It captures the lives, brief histories (in some instances), and aspirations of the members of the community on Dream Street, “the best street in the world!” Evidently, it’s based on the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston where the author and illustrator grew up together as cousins. There is even a spread featuring two young girls, one drawing and one writing: “The cousins dreams that someday they’ll create a picture book together about everyone they know and meet on Dream Street.” <\/p>\n

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Readers meet Mr. Sidney, a retired mail carrier; Belle, who longs to one day be a lepidopterist; Ms. Sarah, who has “stories between the lines of her face that she’ll share when you come close”; Zion, who wants to be a librarian when he grows up; Dessa Rae, who falls asleep in the garden behind her house with her grandbaby, Little Song, in her lap; and more. The author brings these people to life with tenderness, precision, and reverence, closing with an achingly beautiful note. It is a statement made profound by the reality that it is not true for children everywhere, but it is true for the children in this book, at this moment, on this street \u2014 and it is what me must all strive for: <\/p>\n

The children who live and play on Dream Street can become whatever and whoever they want, because their dreams are nourished and cared for, just like Dessa Rae’s flowers. There is no need to worry or to rush. They take their time, growing and playing, learning and living, and soaring skyward toward all the adventures that await them.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Each of these profiles features a collaged portrait from Holmes, and each of them is remarkably textured. The tiny copyright-page note states that the illustrations were created with found and created papers, fabric, and acrylic paint, and they are exquisite. Just look at the image that opens this post \u2014 the beguiling perspective, the movement, those COLORS. Two more of these magnificent spreads are pictured below. Be sure to click on them to see them in their entirety and with the text.
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“Each morning, unless it’s raining, Mr. Sidney reads the newspaper on his stoop, dressed ‘to the nines,’ Ms. Sarah likes to say. ‘What’s the nines?’ a child will ask, and Ms. Sarah will answer, ‘Fancy, fancy!’ Mr. Sidney is a retired mail carrier living his dream of never having to wear a uniform again. He tips his big brown fedora and greets everyone with, ‘Don’t wait to have a great day. <\/em>Create one!'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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“Belle catches butterflies in a jar when they fly near Ms. Sarah’s birdbath, but she always lets them go before too long. ‘Everything has a right to be free,’ she says. ‘And every butterfly is different. Just like snowflakes and people and dreams.’ Belle wants to become a scientist who studies butterflies. She says there’s a special name for it:
a lepidopterist.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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(Click cover to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nDREAM STREET. Text copyright \u00a9 2021 by Tricia Elam Walker. Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright \u00a9 2021 by Ekua Holmes and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Anne Schartz Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 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> Ice-skating! <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Although work interrupted my watching of it, Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary is pretty incredible. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> The 1619<\/a><\/em><\/strong> podcast … <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> … and teachers like this<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> Celeste Barber. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> It’s the time of year to turn up Sufjan’s Stevens’s 49 seconds of holiday awesomeness. I haven’t danced around the house to this at least ten times this week or any<\/em>thing.
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