Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

It’s cold these days. I’ll take some of the hot beans pictured here.

Illustrator Nicole Tadgell visited 7-Imp in October of ’08, and I figured now would be a good time to catch up with her and see what she’s been up to. And that’s because I knew for a fact that what she’s been up to is illustrating author Becky Birtha’s second picture book, Lucky Beans, released by Albert Whitman & Company this month. And I’ve read Lucky Beans, and I like it. (And if I were a math teacher for late-elementary students—or even a social studies teacher—I’d be all about using it in the classroom.) Nicole’s here to share some art and sketches, as well as talk a bit about illustrating the book. Here’s the sketch for the illustration opening this post:

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Won’t you join me for a brief moment as I shine the spotlight on a picture book import? I picked this one up at my local library fairly recently and immediately contacted the publisher about sharing some spreads from it. Canadian illustrator Anne Villeneuve’s nearly wordless picture book, The Red Scarf, was originally published in French as L’Echarpe Rouge in 1999, and it won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. It was released last month by Tundra Books and leapt off the new-books shelf in the library, calling my name loudly with its colorful, action-packed cover. Villeneuve’s work is not well known here in the States, but I hope that changes one day.

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Pictured here is Susan Gal’s Dog Gone, painted in 2009 (charcoal and digital collage). Some of you may remember this Poetry Friday post in which I shared two spreads from this debut illustrator’s first picture book, Night Lights (2009), which was met with more than one starred review. Susan—who began her illustration career as a poster and calendar artist, followed by animation work for Disney—is here this morning to say hello and tell us what’s next for her. Her second picture book with Random House will be released this May. It’s called Please Take Me for a Walk, and since I’ve got an early copy of it, I can vouch for its deep, deep charms. It’s a title about friendship and community, as seen through the eyes of a gregarious pup, and it’s cozy and fun. I said before, and I’ll say it again: Gal’s work to me is reminiscent of one of her idols, Ezra Jack Keats. (I also see online, as I compose this post, that Kirkus made the same comparison and also compared her work to Margaret Bloy Graham’s, though they add, “the images manage to be both fresh and familiar.” Graham, as you can see below, is another of Susan’s artistic idols.) Susan’s charcoal and digital collage spreads are warm and intimate. I love what I see in her two titles thus far and am eager to see where she goes from here.

Without further ado, here’s Susan to say hi and share a bit more art: Read the rest of this entry �

I promise I haven’t forsaken Poetry Fridays. I do so love Poetry Fridays. But, hey, I’ll be back with an entry soon. And you know what else? All kinds of other folks are sharing poetry today. Jone’s hosting the Poetry Friday round-up, if you feel like exploring…

Author/illustrator Matt Tavares is joining me for breakfast this morning, and here’s why I’m happy about it:

My Picture Book Moods change. I love some good abstract children’s book illustrations some days; I love the postmodern on others. I love me some funky and even some cartoony, depending on my mood, and I like minimalism done well. Sometimes my mood is very Rashcka; other days, very Kadir. Some days, it’s gotta be detailed, ornate Barbara McClintock or nothing at all. You know me (and you get the point): While I have my favorite styles and illustrators, I also am an all-around Picture Book Nerd who likes to take it all in — as long as it’s done well. And when I want to see a master watercolorist working in realism, someone who paints—as The Washington Post once put it—with a real sense of solidity (and usually taking on quite “monumental subject matter”), one illustrator I go to is Matt. In writing about his illustrations for Doreen Rappaport’s Lady Liberty, James McMullan wrote in The New York Times, “Tavares creates images with a pageantlike grandeur. He achieves this by arranging the figures in classically simple compositions and through his use of light.” Spectacular is what the work in that book is…

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I’m having cyber-coffee this morning with Kathi Appelt and Kelly Murphy. However, since I’m feeling a bit under the weather (You know how getting the flu shot can momentarily give you flu-like symptoms? Yeah. That.), I’m going to keep this introduction short. It goes something like this: Kathi wrote a picture book, which Kelly illustrated, and it was published last December by HarperCollins. It’s called Brand-New Baby Blues. I actually haven’t read it yet. That’s right. Haven’t read it yet, though I’ve seen snippets here and snippets there. But I still wanted Kathi and Kelly to visit and talk a bit about the book, as I generally like what they do and am interested in getting my library copy soon. I know, I know: I usually give you my opinion of a book, but humor my temporarily achy self here. When I read the book later, if I think your happiness as a reader is in jeopardy, I’ll come back and warn you. Somehow, I doubt this.

The book, all about a young girl’s attempts to acclimate to life with her baby brother, which prompts her to sing the blues of the picture book’s title, is “funny and concise,” wrote Kirkus. Here’s what else they said:

…the rollicking rhyme bounces along, accepting the frustration natural to the situation, while gently allowing the girl’s love of and appreciation for her brother, as well as her anticipation of a future playmate, to gradually shine through. The process is complemented by the illustrations, which modulate in palette from angry blues and greens to sunny yellows, while serene compositions replace off-kilter ones. Older brothers and sisters will easily identify with this jaunty heroine and profit from her realizations — an excellent choice for a new older sibling.

So, without further ado, I welcome Kathi and Kelly. Since Kelly’s up, getting us some biscotti for our coffee, Kathi is up first: Read the rest of this entry �

Anyone else see this review over at A Year of Reading? That’s Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s latest title, published by HarperCollins last month and illustrated by Paul Schmid. It’s called The Wonder Book, and it’s…well, a little wonder, to be precise about it. I love children’s books that do word play well (as it’s ever-so easy to screw up), and this is one. I’m happy to feature Paul this morning, who is making his debut in picture books with this title. Amy says—in that video you see linked in Franki’s post—that Paul’s illustrations perfectly “capture the essence and flavor of this book. It’s almost as if his style was created for this book. I cannot imagine The Wonder Book looking any other way.” Score.

The Wonder Book, which—as the publisher likes to point out—is tremendously browse-able, has poems, lists, (clever, as already mentioned) word play, the less famous friends of Mary Mack, Prince sdrawkcaB (a poem actually best read backwards, as in last line first and first line last), palindromes (including the “Too bad I hid a boot” Paul shares below), half-birthday celebrations, a dinosaur with a killer vocabulary (Tyrannothesaurus Rex, who talks everyone to death), a word play in four acts, some moments of clarification, a Rhyming Summary of the Universe, and lots and lots of wonderings. To be opened and read in any spot you’d like, as noted, it’s actually a good title for a lazy, wondering Sunday morning, I have to say. Publishers Weekly has already noted the “Silversteinian effect” of the book, in case your brain is also yelling WHEE! WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS!, as mine was when I first saw the book.

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I’m doing another quickie In-Appreciation post today. Okay, well: Doing an In-Appreciation post about British writer (though German-born) Judith Kerr after having only read two of her books kinda makes me a poseur. But I very much love the two books, and I’d like to explore her work further. As you can read here, she’s also known for her Mog series, as well as the children’s novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. She’s also well-known for this title…

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I’ve got my cereal bowl ready this morning, as I’m having Lucky Charms with author/illustrator Jeff Newman. I have to say: I like this interview. I want to take it to the zoo to visit hippos and rhinos. I like Jeff’s responses, particularly his…well, his economy of expression. (The good kind, that is. I’ve had some interviewees exhibit an economy of expression coupled with an obvious apathy for the interview, but Jeff is both to-the-point and friendly.) And I am happy about all the art he’s sharing this morning. In my world, Jeff is one of children’s literature’s newest sensations: In a just world, I think he’d Go Places. His art work and storytelling are fresh and funny and like no other’s.

I admit I haven’t read his first book (Jeff lists his books below), but when Hippo! No, Rhino came out in ’06, looking easily like a book that might have been published when I was but a wee babe, it quickly became one of my favorite picture books from that year. (And there are precisely seven skerjillion picture books about zoos in this world; that one’s probably my favorite of all.) Most of the story in Hippo! No, Rhino, as well as his new title, is told through the illustrations, School Library Journal calling it a “clever exercise in promoting visual literacy.”

Wait. What was that? Did I mention his new title? Well, let’s get right to it. I can’t wait any longer. I love his new picture book so much. I really do. If it had a neck, I’d hug its neck. My favorite picture book thus far in 2010 this one is. It’s called… Read the rest of this entry �

My Valentine’s Day gift to everyone this morning involves some illustrations from Sergio Ruzzier’s newest title, Hey, Rabbit!, published by Roaring Brook Press. (I had it in my head that it was published at the end of last year, but online sources tell me it’s coming out in a few days. Shows you what I know.) Since this is a sweet, unassuming tale of friendship that I very much like, a peek at the art is my Heart Day gift to you all, my friends.

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