{"id":5528,"date":"2022-02-13T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T06:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5528"},"modified":"2022-02-12T20:15:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T02:15:45","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-782-featuring-delphine-renon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5528","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #782: Featuring Delphine Renon"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nAlain Serge Dzotap, the award-winning author of The Gift<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Eerdmans, February 2022), is a Cameroonian children\u2019s book author and poet with a publishing house called Les Bruits de l\u2019encre. Born in Bafoussam, he regularly promotes literacy in Cameroon by visiting schools and conducting workshops. This book, originally published in France and illustrated by French illustrator and graphic designer Delphine Renon<\/a><\/strong>, is Dzotap\u2019s first book published in English.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leo, a leopard, has just had a birthday. He is happy with all his gifts, but one special gift mesmerizes him. His father has given him a pen, telling Leo: \u201cThere are all sorts of beautiful things inside your pen. When I come back from the market later, I\u2019ll show them to you.\u201d But Leo is impatient and insistently tries to find those beautiful things. Nothing happens. He sets off to ask for help. His older sister; Coco-Tembo, the hen; Super-Zombo, the giraffe \u2014 none of them can figure out what the pen is supposed to do. But Leo\u2019s mother knows. She sits him down and shows him how to move the pen across the page. Leo is amazed. He writes words. He draws pictures. \u201cSoon the whole world is coming out of his pen!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dzotap constructs the story with a pleasing, unfussy structure. He uses repetition to satisfying effect, which will hook young readers (or those hearing it read aloud to them): When Leo consults family and friends about the pen and they repeatedly misconstrue its purpose, each time Leo says: \u201cYou\u2019re not doing it right.\u201d Renon\u2019s crisp, fine-lined colored pencil illustrations bring Leo\u2019s jungle world to vivid life. Bright and warm yellow and green shades dominate, and spread after spread, Renon\u2019s compositions are a visual delight. It all adds up to a satisfying story about creativity and the joy of the discovery of expression through the arts.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the spreads below!
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“But the one he likes best of all is his father’s gift: a pen. …”<\/em>
(Two images above: Click either one to see spread in its entirety)<\/center>
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“Leo goes to find Super-Zombo, the giraffe,
and asks for her help getting the beautiful things out of his pen.”<\/em>
(Click spread to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“Leo returns home. He can’t wait any longer. He asks his mother: ‘Mama, can you please show me the beautiful things that are inside my pen?’ ‘Come with me,’ Mama says.”<\/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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\nTHE GIFT. Text \u00a9 2020 Alain Serge Dzotap. Illustrations \u00a9 2020 Delphine Renon. Originally published in France as <\/em>Le Cadeau. First published in the United States in 2022 by Erdmans Books for Young Readers. Illustrations reproduced by their permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

1)<\/strong><\/font> Road trip. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Visiting Barbara McClintock’s students (virtually) at Wesleyan this week to talk about picture books. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> Long walks … <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> … on a warm day. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> A peanut butter and chocolate mug cake. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Grogu. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Valentine’s Day. Have a good one, everyone!<\/p>\n

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

  Alain Serge Dzotap, the award-winning author of The Gift (Eerdmans, February 2022), is a Cameroonian children\u2019s book author and poet with a publishing house called Les Bruits de l\u2019encre. Born in Bafoussam, he regularly promotes literacy in Cameroon by visiting schools and conducting workshops. This book, originally published in France and illustrated by French […]<\/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-5528","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\/5528","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=5528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}