Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“I was … rolling around the idea of negative emotions—grief, regret, shame—and how we allow them to form the walls that imprison us.

I wondered what that prison might look like if it were a tangible thing — and how a person would ever find their way free.”

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I chat with author Melanie Crowder today over at Kirkus about her new middle-grade novel, A Nearer Moon (Atheneum, September 2015).

That Q&A is here.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo taken by Tiffany Crowder and used by permission of Melanie.

” … If only there were some sort of magical ‘Robo-Sauce’
that turned you into a giant awesome robot …”

 

Author Adam Rubin and illustrator Daniel Salmieri are visiting this morning to talk about their newest book, Robo-Sauce, just released by Dial last week. It’s the story of a boy who drinks a sauce that turns him into a robot, and after he concocts a robo-laser of sorts, he turns everything around him into a robot — including the very book he’s in. That’s right: The book has a one-of-a-kind moment—a sort of hybrid fold-out and dustjacket all in one with clear instructions for readers—that transforms the book into a robo-book. If you’re confused right about now, you can either a) read below, where Adam discusses this moment in the book; b) look at the images below of the fold-out moment itself; or c) watch Betsy Bird’s video about it. Better yet, find a copy of the book and experience it for yourself. It’s pretty great, and the story is very fun.

Our chat today is rather Robo-Sauce-centric, but maybe I can have these two back to 7-Imp another day to talk about the mighty funny Dragons Love Tacos (2012), not to mention this year’s Meet The Dullards, written by Sara Pennypacker (with art by Daniel here at 7-Imp). I also failed to ask them what their fascination with sauces is (salsa, robo-power-inducing sauce), so I’ll ask them that next time too.

I thank them for visiting.

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Last week over at Kirkus, I chatted (here) with author-illustrator Jonathan Bean about his newest picture book, This Is My Home, This Is My School, which will be released next week from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Today, he shares not only a bit of final art from the book, but also early sketches and final inks from some of the spreads. If you’re wondering why he cut out portions of some of his drawings, as you’ll see below, he explains that in the Q&A. Here’s what he said last week:

With This Is My Home, This Is My School, I wanted that line to feel like it had been lived in and was beginning to fall apart some, as buildings will when they age and are occupied by energetically active people. So, I inked the whole thing with a hand-carved bamboo pen, often drawing at arm’s length. I also used cheap paper so that the work wouldn’t feel precious and so I wouldn’t worry about drawing things over and over. When, on the fifth or 10th or 13th time, I got a face or tree or stove I liked, I cut it out and pasted it to the Frankendrawing that I gradually completed like a puzzle.

Pictured above is an early cover sketch.

I thank Jonathan for sharing.

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry �

“With This Is My Home, This Is My School, I wanted that line to feel like it had been lived in and was beginning to fall apart some, as buildings will when they age and are occupied by energetically active people. So, I inked the whole thing with a hand-carved bamboo pen, often drawing at arm’s length. I also used cheap paper so that the work wouldn’t feel precious and so I wouldn’t worry about drawing things over and over. When, on the fifth or tenth or thirtieth time, I got a face or tree or stove I liked, I cut it out and pasted it to the Frankendrawing that I gradually completed like a puzzle.”

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I chat with author-illustrator Jonathan Bean this morning over at Kirkus about his newest picture book, This Is My Home, This Is My School, coming later this month from Farrar Straus Giroux.

That Q&A is here, and next week I’ll have some art and preliminary images from the book here at 7-Imp.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo used by permission of Jonathan Bean.

Illustrator Steven Henry (the artist formerly known as Steven D’Amico) is here today to talk about a couple of his brand-new illustrated titles, as well as look back on a few of his earlier ones. Steven, who has also worked as a designer and art director, debuted in picture books a little over ten years ago, and today he shares a bit of his artwork — soft and breezy pen-and-ink (for the most part) artwork on this soft and breezy Autumn Day. (And pictured above is early concept art from Rebecca Colby’s It’s Raining Bats & Frogs, released in August. More on that below.)

Without further ado …

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“I … don’t think we as writers should censor ourselves too much when it comes to scary stuff for kids. Everyone likes a good, scary story! These books also help kids learn about life and consequences and bravery.

But don’t make the mistake of talking down to kids or trying to moralize. They can sniff it out miles away.”

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Supernatural Southern Gothic, anyone? Over at Kirkus today, I talk to debut author Ronald L. Smith, pictured here, about his new novel Hoodoo, released last month by Houghton Mifflin.

That conversation is here.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo by Erik Kvalsvik and used by permission of Ronald L. Smith.

Author-illustrator Zachariah OHora visits 7-Imp today to talk about his newest picture book, My Cousin Momo (Dial, June 2015). Momo is a flying squirrel, and he throws his cousins for a loop when he visits and does things his own way. You know, we all have a cousin like that (thank goodness, because normal people worry me). It’s a story about family and acceptance and embracing your inherent weirdness, and it’s very funny. OHora has a style all his own, and you can see that for yourself below in the art he shares. He also shares some preliminary images, which are always fun to see.

Let’s get right to it. …

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Right on the heels of his Eric Carle Honor, I have a long chat with editor Neal Porter over at Phil & Erin Stead’s Number Five Bus blog about publishing picture books today and all kinds of other stuff. The Barry Manilow moment is courtesy of the Steads.

That interview is here. It’s got some sneak-peeks at upcoming picture book art (from the likes of Jerry Pinkney, Christian Robinson, Hadley Hooper, Eric Rohmann, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Phil Stead, Antoinette Portis, and probably more), which makes me especially happy.

Enjoy!

Sophie: “This was the last painting to be finished.
I felt a little bereft when it was all done.”
(Click to enlarge)

 
Back in the day, I used to do what I called picture-book roundtable discussions here at 7-Imp — in which the author, illustrator, editor, and art director/book designer would join me to give readers varying perspectives on one picture book title. I’ve only done three of these, though I really do enjoy them, and the last one was back in 2011. Wow. It’s been a while.

But I’m happy to be doing it again today with such an impressive book in the spotlight. That book is Lindsay Mattick’s Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. It’ll be on shelves next month from Little, Brown.

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“Three years … of blood, sweat, and tears, which aren’t always my own. There’s too much to write in terms of what I’ve learned, but at the end of the day I know that I feel free,
and we’re doing something that helps people.”

 

This morning over at Kirkus, I talk to author-illustrator R. Gregory Christie about his new picture book, as well as GAS-ART GIFTS (“Gregarious Art Statements”), what he’s referencing in the quote above — the bookstore and art studio he opened in Decatur, Georgia, about three years back.

That link is here.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of R. Gregory Christie used by his permission.