Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I’ve been prepping for this. Local friends, come join me.

Until later …

See my special tee shirt that I’m wearing today for a special reason? And I’m wearing it in solidarity this morning with two other friends, sportin’ the exact same haute couture. What in the actual what the? you may be wondering. Let me explain.

It goes a little like this: Whenever author Jack Gantos very simply either writes or speaks, cyberspace chatter amongst myself, blogger/public librarian Adrienne Furness (What Adrienne Thinks About That), and blogger/school librarian Camille Powell (BookMoot) enthusiastically ensues — all on account of our most sincere (and long-time) fan-dom. Jack has written a new novel, Dead End in Norvelt, which I covered over here in a July Kirkus column (and followed up here at 7-Imp with an interview with the man himself). This book sees its official release today. Adrienne, Camille, and I exchanged many emails about the book over the past few months (we were lucky enough to have early copies of it) and discussed how much we enjoyed it. Natch. This didn’t surprise us.

But I also had the distinct pleasure of hearing Jack speak in April at The University of Tennessee, and I contacted Adrienne and Camille, my number-one fellow Jack-fans, at that time to say, “I saw Jack speak again, ladies, and once again I was reminded why it is that I decided to study children’s lit in the first place.” Because, you see, hearing Gantos speak will do that for you, as well as make you laugh so hard that you think you’ll nearly split in half. (Thank goodness for his wicked and refreshing sense of humor.) His words are just invigorating is all there is to it. The three of us chatted about, as always, his general awesome-ness as a force in children’s lit, given this new novel and his appeal as a speaker. So . . . Read the rest of this entry �

Click to enlarge and see names more clearly.

Will I see you in Nashville this year?

The winners of the Society of Illustrators’ 2011 Original Art award have been officially announced at the Society’s site. Here’s the low-down.

Fun. I’ve said it before, but it was wonderful to have been asked to be a part of that jury. Now I’m thinking I should see if I can snag the artist holding the Gold Medal in her hands for a Q&A, don’t you?

My blogging pace is slow this week. I’ve got a manuscript deadline of my own to wrap up. Dangling citations (as in, I have a lot of them to wrap up before the weekend) is how I just put it to a friend and then realized that’d be a great band name. The Dangling Citations! I call it! (Also: Cowbell! I get to play cowbell. Called it.)

But I hope to be back Thursday. Until then, enjoy the cover of the Gold Medal winner, and please head on over to their site to see the Silver Medal winners, as well as more information in general:

I’m out of town. May not be posting for a few days.

Seven apologies before breakfast.

But please carry on without me. Um, in the immortal words of Linda Richman, Ralph Fiennes is spelled neither rafe nor fines. Discuss. Alternately: The jelly bean is neither made of jelly, nor is it a bean. Discuss.

Until later….

(Where ever I may be at this exact moment, I very likely have a cup of coffee in hand. Hence, the image, though that coffee pictured there really needs some half-and-half. Quite possibly, a drop or two of Baileys Irish Cream. Also, I don’t think I’m capable of doing a post without an image. Discuss.)

I feel like I should say something dramatic here, such as, if you read any one 7-Imp post this year, let it be this one. And that’s because today I’m shining the spotlight on the folks at Literacyhead.com, a bi-weekly magazine connecting literacy and the visual arts. They came to my attention months ago, and gracious knows they’ve been ever-so patient with me, since I told them about that long ago that I wanted to post about what they do. I’m finally getting to it. Ahem, better late than never, yes?

And here’s why I love them: Well, I feel like the real heroes out there, as cliché as this may sound, are the teachers and school librarians of the world, working tirelessly day-to-day in our oft-beleaguered schools. I tend to run my mouth here at 7-Imp about illustration (in particular)—oh, I can wax annoyingly poetic for days about just one book or just one eloquent illustration or one very funny spread—but every now and then, when I can, I like to shine the spotlight on people doing the hands-on work in educating our children. (And those of you interested in literacy are reading Jen Robinson’s blog, Carol Rasco’s blog, and Terry Doherty’s Reading Tub, yes? I’m probably forgetting a slew of other great literacy blogs, but when in doubt or when needing even more info, go to those smart, passionate ladies for the low-down.)

So, where was I? Right. Why do I love Literacyhead? Because, as you can see at this page of their site, the folks over there love children’s literature and art (“the connections between the two make us positively giddy”); they want to “help teachers nurture their creative lives while they meet the demands of high accountability to which they are subject”; and they “believe that the arts are a basic component of a healthy life, not an afterthought or a bonus if there is time or funding.”

So, taking these beliefs, they use art to assist teachers in illustrating to children the writing process, to support comprehension of books, and to provide writing workshops. They also provide book recommendations, essays, reviews, visual aids and graphic organizers, and much more. I’m not currently in a school library and haven’t tried this out, but their work sounds impressive to me, and I wanted to hand the blog over to them today so that they could tell us more. (Yes, when you catch me facing a manuscript deadline, you get to interview yourself at 7-Imp, and I’m glad they were game.)

Oh, best thing of all about Literacyhead? They believe “that art is the most promising catalyst for social change,” and they “want children to begin to think that they need and deserve beauty in their lives.” Finger snap. Head roll. They are kindred souls, you see. If you read my blog at all, you know I second these beliefs. I mean, check out this page: There are galleries for Taeeun Yoo, Shadra Strickland, Jon J Muth, and more. The illustration junkie in me is swooning. Read the rest of this entry �

Hey, you. Yes, I’m waving at you, talented illustrators of the world. Please note this call for entries from the Society of Illustrators.

The Original Art: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration award/exhibition has celebrated the art of children’s book illustration for over 30 years. The annual exhibit in NYC showcases the year’s best children’s books. Sponsored by the Society of Illustrators, Gold and Silver medals are awarded by a jury to three chosen books representing a wide variety of medium and technique.

At the Call for Entries page at the Society’s site, you will see all the information you need to know — who may submit (illustrators, agents, writers, and publishers); eligibility; how to enter; the entry fee; etc. So head on over there, if you’re so inclined. The deadline for entries is July 22.

Now back to your regularly scheduled coffee . . .

The Summer Blog Blast Tour is going on this week, and I was remiss in not mentioning it earlier. (I blame my manuscript deadline.)

You can head over here to Chasing Ray, if you’re so inclined, for the master interview schedule for the week. I’ll be welcoming Canadian illustrator Genevieve Côté on Thursday for this summer’s round of interviews.

I’m not posting any picture-book art today, but I will share my project of the week: My felt-board adaptation, let’s call it, of Paul Fleischman’s and Julie Paschkis’s 2007 picture book collaboration, Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella.

Every year for my pubalic liberry’s summer reading program, I do volunteer storytelling. I try to mix things up but usually end up whippin’ out my felt board. I just can’t help it. As a wise friend said recently, “felt boards are like magic to our pixel-saturated children.” She’s right, you know. So, I always end up learning a new story and creating new felt pieces.

This year, since the summer reading program theme is “One World, Many Stories,” I decided to take Fleischman’s book and learn it, and I’m making Paschkis-inspired felt-board pieces for the journey of Cinderella around the world. My plan is to start off by asking the children to tell me the story we tend to tell in this country (based on Perrault’s version), and then I’ll run through it as Fleischman does with felt pieces representing elements of the story as it’s told all over the world. The pieces in this photo above are just a portion of the many I’ve made for this tale. (You may click on the image to enlarge it, if you’re so inclined.) This is decidedly more complicated than last year’s story, but so far, so good.

And the fairy godmother isn’t up there in that pic. Right now, I’m not pleased with her. She looks like some sort of sickly Jedi. I need to fix her. In a bad way.

I’m off now to continue cramming on this story. I’ve got some children to entertain on Wednesday. See you later this week with some actual picture book illustrations to showcase. Until then…uh, may the magic-wand force be with you.

I may have mentioned seven skerjillion times or so here at 7-Imp that I like sun images. Here’s my favorite stamp. I really own … let’s see … one stamp. Yup. That one. Because a sun stamp is all a person really needs. My daughters’ burgeoning collection of dinosaur stamps disagrees with me. RAAOOOORRR! they tell me and threaten to stampede, but I still say a sun is better any day.

Another reason I’m posting a lovely sun today is to inform 7-Imp readers that I’m taking several days off to go soak in some sun rays of my own. (I’m embarking on what I like to call my “redneck staycation,” but I won’t bore you with details.) Part of my goal, though it is a local staycation of sorts, is to stay away from work email and blog email and typing and Facetwitter and this, that, and the other. Think I can do it? I think so. But wish me luck anyway (because I really just like talking to many of you who live far away).

I’ve got some fun and talented visitors to 7-Imp waiting in the cyber-wings. And I’ll be back on Friday. See you then.

In the meantime, check out the winners of the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards! (Seven cheers for ANNA HIBISCUS, which I’m yelling in excitement!) Such good choices, and I’m particularly happy to see Salley Mavor win for Picture Book! (Here’s my December 2010 interview with her for fellow fans to read and enjoy.)

Have a sunny, most excellent week, all.