Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Illustrations from title page spread
(Click to enlarge)

 
I’m doing that thing again (forgive me) where I’m writing about a book several months before it arrives on bookshelves, but I’ve had this art for a while and decided to go ahead and share it today. (See how I waited at least a little bit?) Karen Hesse’s Night Job (Candlewick), illustrated by G. Brian Karas, will be on shelves in September — and it is a book to look forward to.

This is the story of a boy and his father, who leave their apartment complex and take a motorcycle on a Friday night to the school that the father cleans for a living. “He opens the door, and the building sighs,” Hesse writes. “Come, it whispers to us.” While sometimes the boy plays (shooting hoops while his father cleans the gym or reading aloud to him while he cleans the library), he also gives him a hand, “sweeping the school from stem to stern.” Hesse captures one night of the father’s custodial work; afterwards, they head home and, just as the sun is rising, drift away together in a recliner. Read the rest of this entry »

 

— From Thomas Scotto’s Jerome By Heart,
illustrated by Olivier Tallec

 

“Turtle dreamed about a better home.
So he decided to make some renovations to his shell.”
— From Michelle Cuevas’s The Town of Turtle, illustrated by Cátia Chien
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
This morning at Kirkus, I’ve got a Belgian import.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Thomas Scotto’s Jerome By Heart (Enchanted Lion, April 2018), illustrated by Olivier Tallec, as well as Michelle Cuevas’s The Town of Turtle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 2018), illustrated by Cátia Chien. I’m following up today with art from each book.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »

“There was an organist who looked about a hundred years old.
She played a swirling song, and people in the front of the row
began to move out of the church.”
(Click to enlarge)

 
I’m following up my Kirkus Q&A from last week with Canadian author-illustrator Matt James with some roughs, sketches, reference photos, work-in-progress images, and final artwork from The Funeral (Groundwood, April 2018). That is below.

Enjoy! And thanks to Matt for sharing.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Sophie Blackall’s beautiful Hello Lighthouse (Little, Brown, April 2018). That is here, if you’d like to read more about the book.

Here at 7-Imp, Sophie visits to tell me a bit about the book, her research for it, and her process. I thank her for visiting and sharing lots of art. Let’s get right to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Hello Color / Hello Bright.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Brendan Wenzel’s Hello Hello (Chronicle, March 2018). That is here.

Here today at 7-Imp, I’m featuring some spreads from the book. …

Read the rest of this entry »

— From Matt Phelan’s Pignic

 

— From Sebastian Meschenmoser’s It’s Springtime, Mr. Squirrel!

 
Over at Kirkus today, I write about two new picture books, one about true love and the other, about turtle towns. Yep, turtle towns.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Matt Phelan’s Pignic (Greenwillow, March 2018) and Sebastian Meschenmoser’s It’s Springtime, Mr. Squirrel! (NorthSouth, February 2018). I’m following up with some art today, and Matt even sent along some preliminary artwork.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »

“I want Norma to show that these moments can hit us all differently and that there is a serious complexity to the way we all process something like death — in this case, the death of a distant relative.

The truth is, though, that this book came into being because I had a chance to observe my kids in situations that were more or less the same as the ones that Norma and Ray find themselves in. Mix in a fair amount of recollection — I remember my first funeral vividly, especially the fact that I felt really guilty for not being sad enough — and a little bit of invention, and you get The Funeral.”

* * *

Over at Kirkus today, I talk with Canadian illustrator Matt James, pictured here. His newest picture book, The Funeral (Groundwood, April 2018), is the first one he’s both illustrated and written.

The Q&A is here. Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with more art from the book.

Until tomorrow …

“‘I love books and flowers . . . and you, too, Daddy!'”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
It’s such a pleasure to have author-illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal visit 7-Imp today to talk about her new picture book, Alma and How She Got Her Name, which is publishing simultaneously in both Spanish and English (Candlewick) this week. Juana, fresh on the heels of winning a 2018 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for Susan Middleton Elya’s La Princesa and the Pea, was born in Peru and is the daughter and granddaughter of painters. (She discusses this below.) Now living in Arizona, she sees with this book her debut as an author.

And what a book it is, this story of one girl, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela; her very long name; and what she learns from her father about that name and her family heritage. It’s a book celebrating cultural identity in specific ways while, simultaneously, inviting children, no matter where they’re from, to consider their own family stories. Its distinctive palette (which Juana also discusses below), soft and endearing illustrations, and beautiful lettering make it sing. It’s a beauty, this one, with inviting, uncluttered spreads and a protagonist whose charms will draw in readers (particularly, preschool-aged ones, those more likely being read to) like a magnet.

I thank Juana for visiting 7-Imp today to share lots of art (including the art of her father and grandfather) and to talk about the book. Read the rest of this entry »

Morning Ride
(Click to enlarge)

 
It’s not the first Sunday of the month, which is when I tend to feature student or newly-graduated illustrators, but sometimes I just like to break the rules.

Today, I’ve got the work of a newly-graduated illustrator to showcase, and I’m happy she’s visiting. Genevieve Irwin lives and works in New York and did her senior thesis with none other than Caldecott Medalist Brian Floca. She tells us below a bit about her work and, lucky for me and my blog readers, shares some art. I thank her for sharing. Let’s get right to it. …

Read the rest of this entry »

— From Ian Lendler’s One Day a Dot,
illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb

 

“Can we stay longer?”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got two Spring reads on the mind.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Sarah Jacoby’s Forever or a Day (Chronicle, March 2018), as well as Ian Lendler’s One Day a Dot, illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb (First Second, April 2018). I’m following up with art from each book today.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »