Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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 �

Yesterday, in an interview at Cynsations conducted by Jenny Desmond Walters for SCBWI Bologna 2010, children’s book historian, author, and critic Leonard Marcus, when asked what future historians might have to say about children’s literature today, said: “{They’ll} have a lot to say about comics and graphic novels and how and why they went from being vilified to being regarded as mainstream.” It’s in large part thanks to this morning’s visitors to 7-Imp that they went from panned to praised. Created by two-time Newbery Honor-winning Jennifer L. Holm and her brother Matthew Holm, 2005’s Babymouse #1: Queen of the World (all books in the series are published by Random House) was the first graphic novel to be named an ALA/ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and the subsequent books in the series have made it one of contemporary children’s literature’s most successful series (and “one of the best characters going,” wrote Kirkus in 2008). To boot, the series was not only this funny, exciting new introduction to the graphic novel format, but also that rare bird in the graphic-novel category at that time: A series for girls. As they’ve stated in a previous interview, Jennifer was unimpressed with most of the female characters that were featured in the comics she read as a kid; thus Babymouse was born (though, as they’ve also stated in interviews before, boys are pretty crazy about the series, too).

Read the rest of this entry �

{Quick Note from Jules: As you can see from that post title, things are comin’ up very Steven this morning at 7-Imp. This is the second in a series of posts by writer, researcher, teacher, editor, producer/film-maker, and poet Steven Withrow. He’s contributing one interview every month to 7-Imp, featuring a children’s publishing professional, or an expert from a related area, who is not primarily known as an author or illustrator—a publisher, editor, agent, art director, designer, critic, scholar, professor, librarian, bookseller, printer, marketer, museum curator, etc.}

I’ll keep this introduction brief, because we cover the basics (and much more) in the interview below. I first contacted Steven Malk, who heads the West Coast office of Writers House and represents many great authors and illustrators, to inquire about interviewing Lane Smith for my upcoming Library of the Early Mind documentary with Edward J. Delaney. I discovered some other online interviews with Steve, and I needed to know more about him and his fascination with bookselling, baseball, and bobbleheads. So here goes:

Steven Withrow: Let’s begin with your family history. It seems you were born to work in the children’s book field. Would you say that’s true, and could you tell me a little about your grandmother and your parents, and your memories of their children’s bookshops?

Steven Malk: I absolutely think that’s true. Both my grandmother and my parents owned children’s bookstores, so I’m actually the third generation of my family to be involved in children’s books.

Read the rest of this entry �

If you saw Jama Rattigan’s April 2009 interview with author/illustrator Melissa Sweet (pictured above with her dog, Rufus)—or if you’ve visited Melissa’s site—you know that these words by poet Mary Oliver are posted above Melissa’s drafting table: “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” And when you see Melissa’s work, you know this is an artist who pays careful attention, indeed. Her mixed-media collage illustrations are detailed and exuberant, always visually appealing; her watercolors, luminous. Full of graceful details for young children and picture book aficionados alike, they clearly mark the work of an illustrator with a keen eye — for nature and for children, in particular. In fact, one of the many images Melissa sent for this interview is this below:

Having explored her books, I’d say this captures well how Melissa succeeds in her writing and illustrating: There is a refreshing child-centeredness to her work that draws readers. She know her child audience and knows it well. We see her illustrations, our imaginations are stirred, and we’re on our way.

Read the rest of this entry �

It’s a pleasure to have illustrator Stephen Alcorn visiting today: I’ve wanted to highlight his work since I first saw Lee Bennett Hopkin’s America At War in 2008. Stephen is most likely known for his striking relief-block prints, which he manages to infuse with metaphor and great emotion.

But Alcorn also works in watercolors, oils, and mixed-media. And, no matter his medium, you can bet you’ll see his imaginatively-rendered illustrations in books beautifully-designed. Always beautifully-designed.

Take last year’s A Gift of Days: The Greatest Words to Live By (Atheneum), a book of days with an accompanying portrait of a legendary figure, along with a quote from the famous person. Wrote Kirkus, “Alcorn lays this out on each double-page spread with a stunning polychrome-relief block-print bordered with pattern on one leaf and, facing, a week of birthdays and quotes. These images are often brilliantly inventive: Billie Holiday’s camellia has a death’s head in its center; John Lennon {pictured below} is figured as the King of Hearts with a Mozart overlay; Leonardo da Vinci is posed like the Mona Lisa.”

Read the rest of this entry �

Early this year, I did a 2008 7-Imp retrospective post — merely because, evidently, I’m crazy. (These things take a bit of time to compose.) I decided this week to write what you see here, yet another retrospective post — this one for 2009, of course.

I don’t know why I do this. I find it strangely beguiling is all I can say. Yes, I looked forward to drafting this post. I’m a sucker at the end of every year for those retrospective round-ups and best-of lists of all sorts that one sees everywhere—both online and in print—about entertainment and literature and politics and on and on. (And, now that it’s the end of a decade, my head’s about to explode with all the looking-back-on-the-naughts lists.)

{As but one example: Ooo! Ooo! This at 100 Scope Notes is fun.}

So, what can I say? It’s my warped idea of fun. It’s tidy fun.

This spiffy and sinister gentleman here, introducing this year’s retrospective, which highlights some of the folks who have visited 7-Imp this year, is Alfred. He came to life as a sketch at the hands of author/illustrator Matt Phelan. After I interviewed Matt in September of this year, he gave Alfred permission to pack his bags and take up permanent residence at 7-Imp and introduce the Pivot Questionnaire for each interview. It seemed only fitting that he’d usher us into this post. My, he’s serious about this retrospective, isn’t he?

Read the rest of this entry �

{Quick Note from Jules Here and I Mean Quick Because I Don’t Intend to Run My Mouth Before Each of Steven’s Interviews: For those 7-Imp readers who missed this recent announcement, writer and researcher and teacher and editor and producer/film-maker and poet (whew again) Steven Withrow will be contributing one interview every month to 7-Imp. He’ll be featuring a children’s publishing professional, or an expert from a related area, who is not primarily known as an author or illustrator—a publisher, editor, agent, art director, designer, critic, scholar, professor, librarian, bookseller, printer, marketer, museum curator, etc. (Suggestions are always welcome, he says.) I’m delighted. I think we’re all going to learn a lot, and all I had to do was format this interview! Yup, it’s all Steven. And I really enjoyed reading it. I’ll see you all soon. Until then, here’s Steven, and I thank both him and Susan for the visit…}

Welcome, Susan Sherman, to 7-Imp. Susan has been designing children’s books since 1977. Currently, she is art director at Charlesbridge Publishing in Watertown, Massachusetts. Over the years, she has been art director of children’s trade books at Houghton Mifflin and creative director at Little, Brown and Company. She also has her own graphic design business, Ars Agassiz.

Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome, dear readers, to an interview I very much enjoyed formatting. I’m not only a long-time fan of Barry Moser’s printwork and watercolors, but I also particularly enjoyed reading his honest and insightful responses to my questions. Though you will read below his perfectly understand-
able reasons for expatriating from the South, a part of Moser still feels affinity towards it; he, in fact, grew up in East Tennessee (born in Chattanooga, to be exact, in 1940), where I also lived for quite some time. And, speaking of the South, his response to the Pivot pearly-gates question is my New Favorite Ever.

Moser is not only an accomplished and renowned illustrator (in both painting and print-making); he is also a printer, typographer, calligraphy artist, designer, lecturer, author, essayist, and teacher. And a “booksmith,” as he told Anna Olswanger in this 1999 interview, adding “{m}y skin goes a little rankly on ‘children’s book illustrator.’ That’s an artificial subdivision. You’re either a book illustrator, or you’re not.” As the owner of the private Pennyroyal Press, his own imprint, Moser strives “to do…as beautiful a book as I can possibly do” (source here); he has illustrated and/or designed over three hundred titles for both children and adults.

Read the rest of this entry �

Author and illustrator Jackie Morris visited 7-Imp about this time last year, but she’s here this morning for a more detailed interview. Jackie, who trained as an illustrator at the Bath Academy of Art in England, now lives here in Wales and has won international acclaim for the many books she has written and illustrated. As I said last year, I struggle to find the words to describe her art work without sounding…well, totally trite, and I ended up deciding to go with words of praise from School Library Journal about her illustrations, since they nail it: “The undeniable beauty of the delicate watercolor illustrations, with their dramatic use of line, coupled with soft, earthy tones, lend the characters and landscapes dignity and timelessness.” So, we’ll just go with their words again. Yeah, what they said. Or, in the words of the New York Times, Jackie is capable of bringing us gorgeous fantasies.

Read the rest of this entry �

I’m going to try something new here at 7-Imp, and it involves this guy here, writer and researcher and teacher and editor and producer/film-maker and poet (whew) Steven Withrow, pictured here with his beautiful daughter. Steven is going to contribute one post a month here at 7-Imp, and just below here in a moment, he’ll tell you what that contribution will be. I’ll still be 7-Imp editor (7-Impitor? Where’s Little Willow when you need some creative phrasing?), but once a month, Steven will be here to provide some new and exciting content. At least I think it sounds great, and all I have to do is take what he’s written and the images he’s provided and post it, people! I get to kick back and read and enjoy, just like you will. Dudes! This’ll be a treat.

I’ll let him tell you all about it. I asked him to introduce himself and to let us know, in his own words, who he is, what he’s done, what he’s all about, and—of course—what turns him on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally. (He has a good answer for that one.) He rose to the challenge, conducting an energetic, fast-paced interview with himself. (Kudos to him for managing to fit his professional and personal life into less than 800 words.) And, because he chose to close his introduction with his favorite books (and good ones, at that), I have a feeling he’ll fit in comfortably when he stops by here monthly, as a rabid, insane, bordering-on-pathological passion for good books is required to be a contributor.

Read the rest of this entry �