Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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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Congratulations to all the authors and illustrators who have been recognized by ALA this morning at the 2010 ALSC Awards. Here is the comprehensive list of winners. So many people to individually congratulate, those who have stopped by the 7-Imp cyber-bungalow this year to have a chat and whom I feel I know a bit better, but if I list them, I’m afraid I’ll forget someone.

The Caldecott winner (since I cover illustration and picture books so often here)? Jerry Pinkney’s beautiful The Lion and the Mouse (cover pictured above). Excellent choice. The Caldecott Honor winners? Well, go see! They’ve been snacking with me over breakfast here at 7-Imp this year.

Congratulations again to all the winners! Once again, to see the comprehensive list, go here. That doesn’t seem to include, however, the Coretta Scott King winners (including TANITA S. DAVIS!), the Pura Belpré winners, and some others, so be sure to look for those separately. As of this morning, when I type this, Heavy Medal: The Mock Newbery Blog has the truly comprehensive list here.

Yup, a stretch. Sorry: No poetry today. But my post can sort of wedge its way into Poetry Friday, given that I’m simply linking to a list of resources posted over at The Poetry Foundation’s web site.

At their blog, Harriet, Don Share’s got some information on the best ways to help out those who are suffering in Haiti, given this week’s tragic earthquake. The information is here.

If you want some actual poetry, the round-up is being hosted today by Mary Ann at Great Kid Books.

{Note: This is Adam Rex’s caricature of Jon Scieszka, revived from my 2007 interview with Jon.}

Oh, I am Generally Not Prepared for this, but I must do this post today, which I am whipping up on the spot and so forgive any errors and my general lack of organization.

Today the kidlitosphere is thanking Jon Scieszka for his wonderful work for the past two years as the nation’s first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The position, as you can read there at that link, was created by the Library of Congress in 2008 to “raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.”

Immediately after being given his sash, Jon said the following at this School Library Journal interview, which just went to prove how perfect a choice he was:

“A big part of my platform will be to reach reluctant readers and to put their parents at ease, especially those parents who are worried about testing or their kids not reading. I can be the official guy who says, ‘Take a deep breath; relax. Let’s not freak out about these tests. We know kids are having trouble reading. But we’ve got the answer for you. Let’s stop testing kids and beating them with a stick. Let’s try the carrot. Let’s let them read good books, because we’ve got a lot of them. Let’s let kids enjoy reading.'”

Oh thank you thank you, Jon. He also discussed the following things for the past two years, while touring the country:

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First of all, Adam Rex made that image. I love it so much that I want to take it to the Peppermint Prom. But more on that at the post’s close.

Well, okay, so Sam-I-Am’s superstar friend isn’t really penning a tell-all book, but I am happy to share this morning that Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production, Peter D. Sieruta of Collecting Children’s Books, and I up and landed ourselves a book deal last week — with lots of help from our agent, the valiant Mr. Stephen Barbara, and after lots of hard work and wordsmithing this Fall in creating the proposal. We got this good news last week but wanted to coordinate today’s posts about it at our respective blogs: You’ll see at Betsy’s blog (via a very enlightening infomercial) and Peter’s blog today that they’re announcing it as well.

We’re happy to say that Candlewick will be publishing the book, and we’ll be working with Associate Publisher & Editorial Director Liz Bicknell. We couldn’t be more pleased and feel like Liz is the perfect fit for our book. (And I’m really looking forward to writing more with Betsy and Peter. I’d write an auto repair manual with the two of them. To say I’m happy Betsy contacted us last summer and said, “hey, let’s write a book!” is the year’s biggest understatement.)

Now, to tell you a bit about the book (straight from our proposal itself): Tentatively titled Wild Things! : The True, Untold Stories Behind the Most Beloved Children’s Books and Their Creators, it will look at the world of children’s lit, past and present, and examine some of its untold tales — with humor, celebration, respect, occasional irreverence, and always great affection for the field. Read the rest of this entry �

First things first: This item above—a watercolor by Sendak of a Wild Thing Balloon for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, dated 1998—will be for sale at the Bloomsbury Auctions in New York on December 9. This would be the moment in time in which I wished that a) I lived in New York, at least for the length of time during which this auction takes place and b) I was filthy rich. Here’s more information. (There are also two pencil sketches and one more watercolor study of the balloon. See here. Swoon.)

This preliminary jacket design below for William Steig’s Shrek! will also be auctioned off, along with lots of other great stuff, so go see.

Okay, as for my List ‘O’ Random Things…

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A quick note this morning, in the category of Interesting to Others Who Are Hip to Kids’ Lit Blogs (well, and also those who are interested in reading about the ever-changing world of contemporary book-reviewing):

Betsy Bird has a great article about children’s lit blogs and their place in the world in the current issue of School Library Journal. Pictured here is the cover. How great is that? Look at those babes. The article is linked online at the SLJ site. It’s here.

Tremendous thanks to Betsy for including 7-Imp in the “Ten Blogs You Can’t Live Without” list. Very flattering, as 7-Imp’s in excellent company there. Most excellent company.

Enjoy the read!

Note: A commenter over at that online article wrote: “Sadly, I understand Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is ending soon. (Please correct me if I’m wrong!)” Nope, I’ll still be here, as Jama quickly noted in a comment (thanks, Jama!), running my mouth. Eisha is backing out—by choice, but I admit we had too much fun entertaining the notion of staging a fake fight (heh)—but I remain. I’ve got my coffee cup and breakfast in hand, still. Ready and waiting to chat with more folks.

Hi there. I’ve had something I needed to say to ya’ll for a while, so please bear with me for a bit.

I am officially resigning from 7-Imp, and henceforth this here blog is solely the property and responsibility of one Ms. Jules Kick-Ass Take-Names Danielson.

Really, I’m just stating the obvious here. For months, nay, years now I’ve barely contributed any content beyond the occasional Poetry Friday post and the weekly 7 Kicks. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching and priority-rethinking lately, and the fact is this: I’m in a very different place than I was three years ago when we started this endeavor. My current job doesn’t really lend itself to keeping up with the latest in children’s lit. And… I’m okay with that. I didn’t expect to land on the career path I’m taking now, but I LIKE it. And I don’t expect it to change any time soon.

My only regret is how much I’ll miss all of you guys. Jules, I know, will be my best friend forever and ever. And while I’ll miss having this shared adventure with her, I think we’ll still have plenty to talk about. But I will sorely miss this community of readers and bloggers and writers and such who I’ve come to think of as another family. So, I’ll try to keep in touch, reading your blogs and checking in with you on all our other online hangouts.

Thanks, everyone, for everything. Further up and further in!

I’m still nervous about seeing the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. As Eisha and I were talking about recently, the book’s just sacred to me, not to mention my raving fan-dom for All Things Sendak. This video certainly helps quell some fears. (I saw part of this in a movie theater, while waiting for the weird-ass “Ponyo” to start, and I nearly jumped up, did an arm pump, and yelled “SENDAK!”)

And anyway, no matter how you feel about the upcoming movie, it’s always a good day when you get to hear Sendak talk. (Please excuse the ad at the beginning.)

You all know I’ve mentioned Terrible Yellow Eyes (TYE) here before, right? It is the brainchild of Cory Godbey, and it is the spot in cyberspace where various artists are contributing their own works created as a tribute to Where the Wild Things Are.

I featured one of Bill Carman’s contributions to TYE a while back. Turns out he’s contributed another piece, which I secured permission to share today.

And, if you live in the L.A. area, note that Gallery Nucleus will be having a Terrible Yellow Eyes exhibition (with Cory as guest curator) from September 19 to October 6. Here’s all the info on that.

How much do I wish I could go to that? A lot. Think the exhibit will make its way to little ‘ol Smyrna, Tennessee? Doubt it. (Hence, my post title.) But those of you in L.A. can go and report back. Yes? Yes!

Here is Bill’s new piece, all framed for you: Read the rest of this entry �