It’s time for another installment of 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks . . . For those new to our series, this is where we all stop in every Sunday to report seven (more or less is fine) Good Things that happened to you (or that you read or saw or experienced or . . . well, you get the picture) this week.<\/p>\n
1) Elaine Magliaro’s<\/a><\/strong> dedication of an original acrostic poem<\/a><\/strong> to me and Eisha. Thanks again, Elaine!<\/p>\n 2) MotherReader’s lovely tribute<\/a><\/strong> to Kurt Vonnegut.<\/p>\n 3) The opportunity to chat with authors and illustrators and editors and other bloggers because of this blog. Eisha and I really enjoyed chatting with Alvina Ling<\/a><\/strong> (how multi-faceted is she?) and John Green<\/strong><\/a> (who is just so stinkin’ nice) last week, and this week we will feature interviews with author\/illustrator Anna Alter<\/a><\/strong> (who amazes me) of The Blue Rose Girls<\/em><\/a><\/strong> and Barbara Kerley<\/a><\/strong> of The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and Walt Whitman: Words for America<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (two very lovely, lovely books out of a handful of great books she’s written). Why can’t these people pass some of their talent over to me? If only it were that simple . . . <\/p>\n 7) Really good red wine after a wicked bad migraine (uh, that would have been last night) . . . <\/p>\n Not sure if Eisha’s going to be able to do her list in time. She’s had a fun day away from the computer. But if she doesn’t make it in time, she’ll be sure to add her list at some point in the comments. <\/p>\n Anyway, what are your<\/em> 7 (more or less) Kicks? Do tell. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s time for another installment of 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks . . . For those new to our series, this is where we all stop in every Sunday to report seven (more or less is fine) Good Things that happened to you (or that you read or saw or experienced or . . . well, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/world1.jpg\")
<\/a>4) Just look<\/em> at that picture. I’m sorry, there’s something so devastatingly cute about a small child signing. My youngest there is signing “wonderful” with a copy of Ashley Bryan’s illustrated What a Wonderful World<\/strong><\/em><\/a> in her lap. Not only does the library program<\/a><\/strong> we attend weekly use this book and play the Louis Armstrong song every week (how great is that? And, I’m sorry, no one should ever<\/em> cover Satchmo’s version. Just leave that perfect little thing alone, but I digress), but my oldest also has been really interested in learning sign language lately — and, I’ve noticed, tends to utilize it when she’s feeling really shy. Seeing as how I’m fluent in American Sign Language, you’d think I’d have pushed it more, but I never did. My oldest suddenly wants to learn more and more signs, though — without my urging. Anyway, here the youngest is signing “wonderful.” The. cuteness. might. just. kill. me. <\/p>\n
<\/a>5) MO WILLEMS’ NEW BEGINNING READER ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE BOOKS!! — Yes, I’m yelling that in all my enthusiasm for them. I’ve read about them, read reviews of them, but it wasn’t ’til this week that I stumbled upon a copy of My Friend is Sad!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> at my local library. I sat down right there and read it to my daughters, and my 3-year old and I laughed ’til our sides hurt. And every day that we’ve read it this week, we’ve still<\/em> laughed. Even though my three-year old can’t quite master the inferencing skills necessary in parts of the book (they are meant for older readers after all), she still hee-haw laughs every time. You can read Fuse’s<\/a><\/strong> detailed review of the two Elephant and Piggie books here<\/a><\/strong>. After reading her review, I’ll just direct you to that, since she pretty much covers every reason the books work and work oh-so well (not to mention, as she put it, “Comedy. You dissect it and it\u2019s not funny anymore. So I can\u2019t really say how it is that Willems found a way to make stories this straightforward as amusing as they are”). Oh thank you thank you, Mo<\/a><\/strong>, for such kickin’ beginning readers. <\/p>\n
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6) Speaking of John Green, my #6 is Looking for Alaska<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. Yes, Eisha handled the question and comments about Alaska<\/em> in our interview with him, ’cause I’m just now reading it. And just exactly how<\/em> did I live before this book? Wow. Just wow. It’s . . . it’s so important. It’s asking the only important questions we need to ask in life, and I’m NOT EVEN DONE READING IT. Yes, I’m screaming that, too, in all my enthusiasm. Sara<\/a><\/strong> mentioned in last week’s 7 Kicks list that she just finished it, too. And then I finished her<\/em> book, Letters From Rapunzel<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, this week, too, which I enjoyed and plan to review soon. What a good book week! <\/p>\n