Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Yesterday, in an interview at Cynsations conducted by Jenny Desmond Walters for SCBWI Bologna 2010, children’s book historian, author, and critic Leonard Marcus, when being asked what future historians might have to say about children’s literature today, said: “{They’ll} have a lot to say about comics and graphic novels and how and why they went from being vilified to being regarded as mainstream.” It’s in large part thanks to this morning’s visitors to 7-Imp that they went from panned to praised. Created by two-time Newbery Honor-winning Jennifer L. Holm and her brother Matthew Holm, 2005’s Babymouse #1: Queen of the World (all books in the series are published by Random House) was the first graphic novel to be named an ALA/ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and the subsequent books in the series have made it one of contemporary children’s literature’s most successful series (and “one of the best characters going,” wrote Kirkus in 2008). To boot, the series was not only this funny, exciting new introduction to the graphic novel format, but also that rare bird in the graphic-novel category at that time: A series for girls. As they’ve stated in a previous interview, Jennifer was unimpressed with most of the female characters that were featured in the comics she read as a kid; thus Babymouse was born (though, as they’ve also stated in interviews before, boys are pretty crazy about the series, too).

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It seems like I say this on the first Sunday of every month, when I feature a student illustrator or illustrator otherwise new to the field here at 7-Imp, but I’ll say it again: A month’s already gone by? It’s February? Wasn’t it New Year’s Day just yesterday? Maybe it’s having young children in the home that makes time seem to fly. Or perhaps everyone feels this way. Either way, I seem to be doing a double-take this morning.

On this, February’s first Sunday, I welcome up-and-coming illustrator (and soft-sculpture artist) Lori Nichols. She brings us, as you can see above, Kitty and Piggy. Lori sent me the entire text from which these featured spreads this morning come, and I hope, based on what I saw, that Kitty and Piggy find a publisher. Remember how last Sunday you joined me in celebrating an illustrator who can create engaging illustrations for the wee’est of preschoolers — and manages to do so without being excessively cloying about it? I think Lori has that gift, too.

Kitty Asks What If? is the title (or perhaps just working title) of this text, and it centers around two friends — one porcine protagonist prone to great worry and his feline friend, who seems to excel at … well, easing such worries. (Have mercy, we Piggies most desperately need you Kitties in our lives.) When Kitty asks in the opening spread, “Hi, Piggy. Wanna play?”, Piggy’s worried about the threat of rain. Kitty pretty much says, pshaw, my friend — but with the gentleness of a good comrade, don’t you know:

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It’s always a good Poetry Friday when J. Patrick Lewis stops by.

Many elementary schools this time of year are celebrating the 100th day of school. Yup, we’ve been counting out one hundred Cheerios and one hundred M&Ms with our kindergartener here in the Danielson home. Pat shares this new poem with us this morning, which celebrates school libraries on the 100th day of the school year. “I was thinking,” he told me, “that this might be a good time to recognize the most important room in every elementary school.”

Thanks, Pat. This one’s fun.

“A School Library Is”
(as told in book titles with a twist)

A Child’s Garden of Voices
The Dewey Day
Picka Picka Bloom Room
The Habbit
Boyful Joise
Make Hay for Booklings
Shriek!
Feast o’ the Fun and Best Until June
The House at Ooh Corner
Amazing Space
Mall of the Wild
Teidi
Where the Read Fun Grows
Vowl Boon
The Higher Tower of Lucky
The Blizzard of Ahhs

[Actual book titles above, in reverse: sesreV fo nedraG s’dlihC A; yaD ywonS A; mooB mooB akcihC akcihC; tibboH ehT; esioN lufyoJ; sgnilkcuD rof yaW ekaM; !kerhS; nooM eht ‘o tseW dna nuS eht ‘o tsaE; renroC hooP ta esuoH ehT; ecarG gnizamA; dliW eht fo llaC; idieH; sworG nreF deR eht erehW; nooM lwO; ykcuL fo rewoP rehgiH ehT; zO fo draziW ehT]

The Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted by Great Kid Books today. Enjoy!

Now, isn’t that the Mad Tea-Party as you’ve never quite seen it before? That comes from the mind of illustrator Oleg Lipchenko, but more on that in a minute.

It’s about to be a good time to be a fan of the novel for which Lewis Carroll was most famously known, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, or—in the words of Martin Gardner—”a very curious, complicated kind of nonsense.” And the reason it’s about to be a good time to be an Alice fan? This new film adaptation. Publishers are already taking advantage of the upcoming Alice craze, including Chronicle books, who have recently released this. (More on that later, since—as the Illustration Junkie I am—you can bet I’m dying to see that one.)

Another case-in-point? Illustrator (and designer and teacher) Bill Carman, who has visited 7-Imp several times and whom, I swear, I should bring on as a consultant or something, tells me that Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, is planning an upcoming exhibit, a tribute show, called “Curioser and Curioser: Inspired by Alice in Wonderland.” Here’s the link with the information; the exhibit begins February 27th. (How much do I love that they’re also featuring “Zombies in Love,” but I digress.)

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You can file this post away in the I Was Remiss to Not Tell You About This in ‘09 category. But sometimes late is better than never.

In October of last year, Roaring Brook released the great Anita Silvey’s Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life. In this book, Silvey shares the results of having posed the following question to well-known Americans in a wide range of fields (authors and illustrators, actors, scientists, reading experts, critics, editors, teachers, athletes, politicians, financiers, and much more): What children’s book left a lasting impact on you — and why? Silvey divides the book into six separate sections, based on common themes in her subjects’ responses (some also taken from statements already in print and interviews): Inspiration, Understanding, Principles & Precepts, Vocation, Motivation, and Storytelling.

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It’s time to take a Sunday once again to appreciate those illustrators who can entertain the youngest of children through picture books without also inducing headaches, brought on by excessive cuteness, in those adults reading the illustrated titles to said children. This is a balancing act, I would think, a tough thing to pull off. David Walker can do it.

Last August, Candlewick released a picture book by Shirley Parenteau, with illustrations by Walker, called Bears on Chairs. This book is a little gem is what it is. If you have a preschooler, or work with them, and you want a picture book that’s going to draw them like a magnet with its rhyming (”Parenteau’s rhythm and rhyme never falter,” wrote Kirkus), fun, accessible text and its soft, warm images, this is the book for you. My own preschooler has carried it around pretty much since I got a review copy and read it to her multiple times: She’ll set herself down on the couch and “read” it. With a text like this…

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After I shared this news in mid-December, a dear friend sent me, as a thoughtful congratulatory gift, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Now, I know this was published in 1994 and lots of writers have probably long leaned on Lamott’s wise advice. In other words, I’m sixteen years late to the party here. But, yeah. I’m reading it for the first time ever. And I love the below excerpt so much on so many levels that I’m going to share it today. And then—while we’re on the subject of glorious imperfections, which we will be—I’m going to follow it with a novel excerpt Eisha once shared with me years ago in a card she gave me, which I also love so much that it’s been hanging in my kitchen all these years.

(And, since Lamott mentions addictiveness, I’m picturing my addiction-of-choice above.)

This post is sort of like a cheap Dollar-Store copy of the kind of goodness you get at John E. Simpson’s blog on Poetry Fridays — interrelated poems, excerpts from novels, song lyrics, even videos/music, etc., though I’ve just got some book excerpts here and though this post doesn’t deliver half as well as John’s do. (Here is but one example.) His cyber-bungalow can be one of your best Poetry Friday visits.

I hope you enjoy the below excerpts as much as I do… Read the rest of this entry »

{Quick Note from Jules: As you can see from that post title, things are comin’ up very Steven this morning at 7-Imp. This is the second in a series of posts by writer, researcher, teacher, editor, producer/film-maker, and poet Steven Withrow. He’s contributing one interview every month to 7-Imp, featuring a children’s publishing professional, or an expert from a related area, who is not primarily known as an author or illustrator—a publisher, editor, agent, art director, designer, critic, scholar, professor, librarian, bookseller, printer, marketer, museum curator, etc.}

I’ll keep this introduction brief, because we cover the basics (and much more) in the interview below. I first contacted Steven Malk, who heads the West Coast office of Writers House and represents many great authors and illustrators, to inquire about interviewing Lane Smith for my upcoming Library of the Early Mind documentary with Edward J. Delaney. I discovered some other online interviews with Steve, and I needed to know more about him and his fascination with bookselling, baseball, and bobbleheads. So here goes:

Steven Withrow: Let’s begin with your family history. It seems you were born to work in the children’s book field. Would you say that’s true, and could you tell me a little about your grandmother and your parents, and your memories of their children’s bookshops?

Steven Malk: I absolutely think that’s true. Both my grandmother and my parents owned children’s bookstores, so I’m actually the third generation of my family to be involved in children’s books.

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Back in 2008, I received an ARC for this book, James Kennedy’s YA fantasy, The Order of Odd-Fish (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, August 2008). It instantly appealed to me, but it lay dormant in my to-be-read pile, an unfortunate occurrence that happens all too much in my life.

Just last week, the author (who, as you may know, upset Neil Gaiman in a series of mentally- and physically-fatiguing contests for the Newbery) contacted me about a super-keen art project of sorts that currently swirls around this book, which you may have already read about over at A Fuse #8 Production. Since I focus so heavily anymore on illustration/art here at this blog, I decided to do a post about his call for submissions.

First, let me say, I finally started the book. I haven’t gotten far, but I can say I never thought I’d see these words together in a sentence: “And Lily Larouche still had on her desk, floating in a jar of formaldehyde, the lonely eyebrows of President Eisenhower.” In fact, it looks as if the paperback version will be out next month:

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I’m not sure how it is that I got several review copies last year from Creative Editions, but I’m glad I did. One of them was this beautiful book, featured a couple weeks ago. The book featured today, Moon Theater (August 2009), written and illustrated by Swiss-American illustrator Etienne Delessert, was another one. This is a haunting and weird (weird = compliment) and memorable picture book. When I read it, I felt like the child version of myself taking in a Sendak book again: Both the story and illustrations have that type of mystery and beauty and slight terror nestled in them.

I’ve only got this one spread (above) this morning to share. Wish I had more, but isn’t that beautiful? That’s the moon theater in action. You can click to see it in more detail. Look at that huge moon, getting raised to the night-time stage. That’s just creepy-good is what it is.

Moon Theater tells the tale of a young stage hand, who—as revealed on the cover here—is the one responsible for the backstage magic behind the moon theater that is the night.

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