Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

This past week, a review I wrote for the wonderful folks at BookPage was included in a round-up of theirs, which you can read here. My contribution was a review of Patricia Hruby Powell’s Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker (Chronicle Books, January 2014), illustrated by Christian Robinson. What an excellent book this is. So, you can read all about it here, and today Christian, whose artwork gives me hope for the future of illustration, visits to share early cover designs, storyboards, and photos of some of his original art from the book. I thank him for sharing.

(As a reminder, Christian visited 7-Imp in 2012, and it’s still one of my favorite interviews.)

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry �

“I meet a lot of kids in my work, kids who have had various kinds of bad starts in life, and I wanted a story that says that a bad start doesn’t mean a bad end, change is possible, and taking power in your hands to change the world is possible”

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This morning over at Kirkus, I have a chat with British picture book author and zoologist Nicola Davies. I’ve enjoyed her books over the years, and her newest, The Promise, illustrated by Laura Carlin, will be out from Candlewick in early March. This one isn’t nonfiction; it’s actually an adaptation of a short story, and it’s Carlin’s debut picture book. There is more at this link.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Nicola Davies used by permission of Candlewick Press.

“I feel books in general—and children’s books, in particular—should not only reflect a child’s experience, but also open other children to new worlds and perspectives. I believe we will ultimately create a more loving and humane world when we continue to expose our children at an early age to the experiences of others that may be different from them, while at the same time affirming those children who are experiencing difficult childhoods.”

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Hear, hear.

Over at Kirkus this morning, I chat with actor, singer and writer Daniel Beaty about KNOCK KNOCK: My Dad’s Dream for Me (Little, Brown), illustrated by Bryan Collier and released at the tail end of last year.

That is here.

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll have some of Bryan’s art from the book.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Mr. Beaty used with permission of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Early dummy image for the cover of Little Santa
(Click to enlarge)

Final art: “And you know the rest of the story.”
(Click to enlarge)

Last week at Kirkus, I chatted here with author-illustrator Jon Agee about a few things, including his newest picture book, Little Santa (Dial, October 2013). Today, I’m following up with some art from the book, as well as some dummy images Jon sent along (which he explains in the Q&A, but I’ll be sure to put captions below each of those images).

Jon also talked in one response about picture book publishing in the early ’80s “when publishing was a quieter, slower, leaner business, and the editorial staff still held reign over sales and marketing. I was a complete unknown, and yet I could meet face-to-face with editors, like Frances Foster and Margaret McElderry. Or receive inspiring rejection letters from Walter Lorraine and Gordon Lish.” He shares below one of those rejection letters. It’s from Walter Lorraine.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

This morning over at Kirkus, I chat with author-illustrator Jon Agee, pictured here.

We talk about his newest picture book, Little Santa, released by Dial in October. Jon also looks back at publishing picture books over the years; considers Maurice Sendak’s contributions to picture books, as well as to his career; discusses what contemporary picture book artists inspire him …

… and more!

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll have some more art from Little Santa, as well as some early dummy images from Jon.

That Q&A is here.

Until tomorrow …

 

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Photo of Jon Agee used with permission.

From Chris Raschka’s Lamby Lamb (April 2014)
(Click to enlarge)

Last week at Kirkus, I chatted with publishing director Cecily Kaiser, who works with Appleseed, a fairly new imprint of Abrams Books for Young Readers. We chatted about board books and what makes a good one. All of that chit-chattin’ is here, and today I’m following up with art from some of the books she mentioned, including the re-boot (coming in 2014) of Chris Raschka’s Thingy Thing series, pictured above.

Enjoy the art.

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Because Kirkus deadlines don’t stop for Thanksgiving, I decided to write about a book I thought might be a fitting Thanksgiving read. And that would be Isobel Harris’ Little Boy Brown, illustrated by French graphic designer and illustrator André François and originally published in 1949. My thoughts on that book are here, and next week I’ll follow up with some art from it (though one illustration, which is also the cover illustration, is pictured right).

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Today, I’m giving some attention to board books, since those poor guys don’t really get enough attention (at least compared to picture books and novels). I’m chatting with the publishing director of Abram’s Appleseed Books, Cecily Kaiser, about board books and what makes a good one. That link is here.

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Lastly, this week for Picture Book Month (which is coming to a close), I chat with podcaster Katie Davis about picture books. I might just ramble a bit about Uri Shulevitz, Maurice Sendak, Barbara Bader, Katherine Paterson, Harry Allard’s and James Marshall’s Grandfather Stupid, picture books as “acts of mischief” (as Patricia Lee Gauch describes it), favorite picture books of 2013, and more.

That is here.

Thanks to Katie Davis for dealing with my low-tech old-skool phone skillz.

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LITTLE BOY BROWN. First American edition published in 2013 by Enchanted Lion Books. Copyright © 2013 by Enchanted Lion Books for this reprint edition. Illustration reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Those of you who follow the wonderful blog Calling Caldecott over at the Horn Book site will recognize today’s book, since they recently posted about it. In fact, I first read about it over there and felt inspired to feature it here.

Written by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore and illustrated by Roth, Parrots Over Puerto Rico (LEE & LOW, September 2013) is an unusual book in that it serves as both a history of the island of Puerto Rico, as well as a history of the Puerto Rican parrot. This vertically-oriented book—and that’s the cover above, text-less and all—tells how they “lived on this island for millions of years, and then they nearly vanished from the earth forever.” The authors go back as far as 5000 BCE to document the first people on the island and those people, the Taínos in 800 CE, who named the parrrots iguaca after the cries the creatures make. As the authors continue to lay out with great clarity the history of the island and those who came to settle there, they highlight the threats the birds have faced over the years, including red-tailed hawks, black rats from settlers’ ships, honeybees, deforestation, hunters and trappers, birds called pearly-eyed thrashers, and more. By 1967, well after the island became a territory of the United States, only twenty-four parrots lived in El Yunque, a national forest in northeastern Puerto Rico:

Puerto Ricans looked up and saw that their iguacas were almost gone. People had nearly caused the parrots to become extinct. Now people started to help the parrots stay alive.

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“To me, the perfect picture book is a spontaneous creation, inspired by an invisible and mysterious muse not to be found in the marketplace.”

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It was a pleasure to chat with author Kate Banks, pictured here. My brief Q&A with her is posted over at Kirkus this morning.

Kate’s newest picture book is City Cat, illustrated by Lauren Castillo, so I asked her about that book. But since Kate’s first books were published in the 1980s, I thought I’d also ask her how she thinks the picture book fares today. Part of her response is above.

And all the rest is here.

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll have some of Lauren’s art from City Cat.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Kate Banks used with permission.

(Click to enlarge photo)

 
See that? Author/illustrator Aaron Becker and Those Clever and Brave Children from Aaron’s Journey are waiting for me to join them for breakfast out in the garden. I think this has become, hands down, my favorite interview picture from this year. (Aaron says he dines on Peanut Butter Captain Crunch when he’s feeling particularly brave, and I see he has some cereal bowls waiting for us.)

Aaron is having a good year. If you follow picture books closely, you’ve probably already noticed this. Journey, his debut picture book, was very recently named one of the New York Times’ Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2013. In fact, he just illustrated a special cover for yesterday’s children’s issue of the New York Times Book Review. Journey has also been met with glowing reviews all around (mostly starred reviews), has been awarded the 2013 platinum “Best Book Award” by the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, was nominated for Best Picture Book in the Goodreads Choice Awards, has been garnering Caldecott buzz, and was called nothing short of a “masterwork” by Sarah Harrison Smith in the New York Times.

Back in August, when I chatted briefly with Aaron about this book over at Kirkus, I shared that I found myself with a very early copy of Journey after this post from last year when I sort of stumbled upon Aaron’s artwork and website. I loved it so much that one morning I, no kidding, called an emergency picture book coffee-shop meeting with two friends who love picture books as much as I do, ’cause I just had to show them this book. We sat over our cups of strong coffee and ooh’ed and aah’ed a lot.

And I still think it’s special.

Even though we’ve had that short Kirkus chat this year, I still wanted Aaron to come over for a 7-Imp breakfast, ’cause 7-Imp breakfasts mean we see way more art.

I thank him for visiting. Let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry �