Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Title page spread
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I’ve got a review over at the Horn Book of Corey R. Tabor’s Mel Fell (Balzer + Bray, February 2021), a book that makes me want to snap my fingers and instantly appear in a story time somewhere — because sharing this book will make a child’s day. (Instantly appearing in a story time may actually frighten the poor children, so I’ll be sure to ease into it.)

That review is here if you’d like to read all about the book. Corey also visits today to talk about the book’s genesis and how he created the illustrations for it. I loved reading all about the making of this one, and I’m pleased to share it with 7-Imp readers. Big thanks to Corey for sharing.

Let’s get to it …

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I’ve a review over at BookPage of Bird House (Abrams, April 2021) by author-illustrator Blanca Gómez. It is a beauty, and you can read why over there. The review is here.

Below are some spreads. A Spanish edition of the book is also being released. See here!

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“And so it came to be that the big house and the little house lived next to each other. Every morning Little Mouse and Big Bear said ‘Good morning!’ to each other
and went to work. Little Mouse to town, and Big Bear to the forest.”
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Let’s take a look at a Japanese picture book import, originally published in 2012. Yoshi Ueno’s The Big House and the Little House (Levin Querido), illustrated by Emiko Fujishima, arrived on U.S. shelves last month.

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“Let your roots curl,
coil in the soil to ground you.”
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Author Maria Gianferrari and illustrator Felicita Sala would have you be a tree — and have some compelling reasons for you doing so. Be a Tree! (Abrams) is on shelves now.

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“SHHH, it will hear you.”
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

 
A turtle. An armadillo. A snake. An alien creature. And some hats, of course.

It’s my review of Jon Klassen’s newest (and very funny) book, The Rock from the Sky (Candlewick, April 2021), over at the Horn Book.

That review is here, and below are some spreads.

Enjoy!

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” … seen a flower?”
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Wanna look with me at some spreads from Shawn Harris’s Have You Ever Seen a Flower?, coming to shelves next month from Chronicle Books? It will wake you right up, this book suffused with joy and wonder. The book’s electric colors may even negate your need for coffee this morning.

Let’s take a look. …

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If, like me, you hadn’t heard of Elizebeth Friedman, author Laurie Wallmark and illustrator Brooke Smart have got you covered in Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars (Abrams, March 2021).

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“Paola: She saw an insect for the first time. / She was so happy that for the entire morning / her heart didn’t stop buzzing.”
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María José Ferrada’s Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile (Eerdmans, March 2021), illustrated by María Elena Valdez and originally published in Spanish in 2019, is an experience — the kind of book you want to mark out some time for and take in slowly and reverently. It is a tribute to the thirty-four children under the age of fourteen who died or disappeared during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorial 17-year regime in Chile.

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I may write about picture books and illustration here at 7-Imp, but if I’m asked if I’d like to interview author Meg Medina about her new novel Merci Suárez Can’t Dance, which Tennessee’s Chapter 16 did ask me, I say yes!

That Q&A is here.

Enjoy!

“In Zonia’s rain forest, green and full of life, she visits old friends and meets new ones.
‘Good morning!’ she says one, two, three, four times.”
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Meet Zonia. She “lives with those she loves in the rain forest, where it is always green and full of life.” The rain forest calls to her every morning, and we readers follow along as she explores, following a vivid blue butterfly all the way. This is the latest picture book from Juana Martinez-Neal, Zonia’s Rain Forest (Candlewick), publishing this week. Juana visits 7-Imp today to share some images from her trip to the Amazon rain forest and to give us a peek into the creation of these illustrations.

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