{"id":888,"date":"2007-09-16T00:53:29","date_gmt":"2007-09-16T06:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=888"},"modified":"2007-09-16T13:35:26","modified_gmt":"2007-09-16T19:35:26","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-28-featuring-trudy-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=888","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #28: Featuring Trudy White"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jules<\/strong>: This week we’re pleased to feature Australian illustrator Trudy White<\/a><\/strong>, who is probably best known for the internal illustrations<\/a><\/strong> she did in Markus Zusak’s<\/a><\/strong> The Book Thief<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Alfred A. Knopf<\/a><\/strong>, 2006). Trudy’s latest book is called Could You? Would You?<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, first published in Australia in 2006 but just released in the U.S. by Kane\/Miller<\/a><\/strong> (yes, we know we featured a Kane\/Miller book last week as well as an Australian illustrator, and we try to mix things up here at 7-Imp, but how can we pass up the opportunity to feature both Julie Vivas<\/a><\/strong> and Trudy White, even if one after the other?). Could You? Would You?<\/em> is a book of questions that, as Mindy pointed out in her review at propernoun.net<\/a><\/strong>, is a great title to use as a prompt for encouraging children to write — or to just explore and wonder about the world around them. Pictured above is the first illustration from the book, the “Could you fall asleep with all these animals? Would you wake up early or sleep in late?” page. Pictured below is a spread from the book, both sent from Trudy. <\/p>\n

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I have played with this book with my 3.5 year old, and — while some questions were a bit too sophisticated for her age — most of them really made her stop and think, and even older<\/em> children will likely jump to answer each question with curiosity and enthusiasm. It’s that kind of book. And this is definitely one of those books that transcends the children’s lit label; a lot of adults, particularly of the meditative, I-wonder-if slant, would enjoy this one. Trudy’s spare drawings are both graceful and sprightly and possess her signature whimsical, relaxed style . . . As her site states, “Trudy White likes to work with pencils, watercolour, ink, nib pens, brushes, biro, computer graphics programs, collage, acrylic paint, oil paint, and textas, in books, on small pages, on large rolls of paper, on canvas and on wood. She also likes to make things out of clay and plasticine. She writes in longhand and on a computer. At the moment she is interested in owls, typography, languages and strawberries.”<\/p>\n

Trudy suggested that we include a selection of questions from Could You? Would You?<\/em> and let kicks-listers — any of you who are perhaps inclined to do so — post responses to any or all of them this week (as well as list your kicks, too, we hope). I love that excellent idea. And if you answer the questions, your name will also get put into a virtual hat, and SEVEN OF YOU CAN WIN A COPY OF THE BOOK!!! (courtesy of Kane\/Miller). It really is a fun, thought-provoking (by its very nature) title, and I particularly recommend it for teachers and school librarians (who work with students of any<\/em> age, in fact, from elementary to high school). <\/p>\n

Here are Trudy’s selected questions from the book (hey, this all makes me think of this recent-ish post<\/a><\/strong> over at Read Write Believe<\/strong><\/a><\/em>): <\/p>\n