Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 

“While some of the cultural details are slightly different from mine, the story as a whole is very much still true to my experience. I think that’s because, at its heart, it’s a story based on the very real relationships with our grandparents. So there’s a personal emotional truth poured into each page that hopefully comes through for the reader.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk with author Minh Lê, quoted above and pictured left, and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, pictured right, about their new picture book, Drawn Together.

That is here.

Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with some art from the book, as well as some preliminary images.

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Photo of Minh Lê taken by Lauren Ackil.

“And they were off, sailing left on the high seas.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’ve a review over at BookPage of Linda Urban’s Mabel and Sam at Home (Chronicle, June 2018), illustrated by Hadley Hooper.

That is here, and I’m following up here at 7-Imp today with a few spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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“With Dad by my side,
there’s nothing we can’t do.”

 
In honor of Father’s Day, here’s a peek inside Dad By My Side (Little, Brown, May 2018), written and illustrated by Soosh. Soosh is a self-taught artist from Europe (from a “country that doesn’t exist anymore,” she writes in the book’s closing author’s note), and this is her debut picture book.

This is a series of illustrations of a young girl and her father, spending their days together — the girl noting the many ways in which her father makes her feel safe and comforted. Soosh creates the girl’s father as “deliberately big,” she writes in that same author’s note …

“… much bigger than the figure of the little girl, his daughter, because this is how she sees him — and this is how many of us see our heroes or parents (which, if we are lucky, are the same thing). His beard makes me think of something ancient, strong, solid. He is someone who is there just because: to love you without any reason, unconditionally and forever. …”

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This guy. He’s got a bad case of impostor syndrome (or does he?) in Mac Barnett’s and Jon Klassen’s newest book in the Shape trilogy, Square (Candlewick, May 2018).

I set out at Kirkus last week to write (here) about how much I like this book, but I ended up rambling about children’s books and intent and reading and pranksters and mischief instead. But today here at 7-Imp, I do have two spreads from the book. They are below. To read more about Square, you can read the Kirkus review.

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Today over at Kirkus, I write about Michael Ian Black’s and Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s I’m Sad. That is here.

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Last week, I chatted here over at Kirkus with author-illustrator and graphic novelist Vera Brosgol about her new graphic novel, Be Prepared (First Second, April 2018).

Today, I’m following up with some art from the book, plus some preliminary artwork Vera sent along. (Pictured above is a sketch from Vera’s pitch for the book.)

Enjoy!

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I finally snagged some spreads from Chris Raschka’s wonderful New Shoes (Greenwillow, May 2018) to showcase here at 7-Imp. I wrote about here it at Kirkus last week, if you’d like to read more about it.

Enjoy!

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I’m taking a Sunday to point 7-Imp readers to the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott, where since March of this year, we’ve been checking in monthly to talk about some of the outstanding picture books we’ve seen this year, ones that maybe — perhaps and who knows and we can’t read minds, after all — the current Caldecott committee members are taking notice of.

Calling Caldecott is here. Pictured above is one of my favorite picture books this year, which we included in this week’s post (and which I reviewed for the Horn Book’s March/April 2018 issue).

In fall of this year, we’ll have more regular posts, discussing books individually as we look ahead to the 2019 award.

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— From Hyewon Yum’s Saturday Is a Swimming Day

 

— From Eugene Yelchin’s Pip & Pup

 
Over at Kirkus today, I may ramble a bit about reading.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Eugene Yelchin’s Pip & Pup (Henry Holt, April 2018) and Hyewon Yum’s Saturday Is a Swimming Day (Candlewick, June 2018). I’ve got art from each book below.

I also wrote about Chris Raschka’s New Shoes, and I hope to have some art from that soon here at 7-Imp. Stay tuned. …

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“Honestly, I was resistant to doing a childhood memoir. I feel like there are a lot of them these days — and good ones. The world didn’t need one from me. My publisher asked me to at least think about it, and I did, crankily. Crank crank crank. But as soon as the camp angle occurred to me, all my crankiness went out the window. I knew I could make a funny book that would be a blast to draw and be different from what’s out there. I’m always telling people about the outhouse. The outhouse needed to be immortalized!”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk with author-illustrator and graphic novelist Vera Brosgol, whose middle-grade graphic novel, Be Prepared, arrived on shelves in April.

The Q&A is here. Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with a bit more art from the book.

Until tomorrow . . .

 
Here’s a quick post about Polly Dunbar’s latest book, A Lion Is a Lion (Candlewick), released in April. It’s the story of a fierce lion, who makes his way into the home of two children by making himself quite dapper — donning a hat and coat and carrying an umbrella. Is he still a lion, Dunbar asks readers, if he makes himself more human-like and even if he puts on certain manners, such as skipping down the street and singing “Hoobie-doobie-doo”? What about if he appears thoughtful? What if he doesn’t forget his please and thank-yous?

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