Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“In the morning, Mommy gives us wake-up kisses and says,
‘Good morning, little one. Can you hear the sounds of our world?’ Listen! …”
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I’ve got a review here over at BookPage of Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson’s Listen to Our World (Paula Wiseman Books, March 2016), illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

As a follow-up today, Melissa shares some art — as well as a few early sketches.

Enjoy!

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“I wonder how fast the wind blows. I wish I had a ship with big propellers that would spin stronger winds to drive the storm away. The ship sails into the black clouds.
I keep watch.”
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Hi, dear kickers! I’m back from my research trip and happy to be kickin’ again.

I write weekly columns for Kirkus, and when I write about picture books over there, I always like to follow up later, here at 7-Imp, with art from the books I write about. That’s on account of being a big illustration fan. I don’t normally do that on Sundays, but I’m a bit behind from being out of town.

All that’s to say that a couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about Akiko Miyakoshi’s The Storm (Kids Can Press, April 2016), and so today I’m sharing some art from the book.

Enjoy!

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“Eeeek! We better leave on tiptoe . . .”
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In honor of National Poetry Month, I have my favorite new poetry title over at Kirkus today. That is here.

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At the end of March, I talked here with Hervé Tullet over at Kirkus, and I’m just now (because I was out of town last week) following up with some art from his latest book, Let’s Play!

Enjoy!

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Today over at Kirkus, I’ve got a Q&A with former Simon & Schuster editor Emma D. Dryden, who now runs her own editorial consulting firm and who talks to me about her new picture book. That chat is here.

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Last week at Chapter 16, I talked to author and illustrator William Joyce about his new children’s novel. That conversation is here, or you can click the image above.

Until tomorrow!

Sketch and final art: “She spread her blankie over them and kissed them good night. Now they looked sleepy and happy.”

 
Hello, Imps. I was out of town, and I missed blogging. But I’m back.

And today I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley’s debut picture book, Twenty Yawns (Two Lions, April 2016), illustrated by Lauren Castillo. Such a good one. Here’s the review if you want to read about it, and Lauren shares here today some process images and final art.

Enjoy!

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Hi, dear kickers! I’m getting on a plane this morning to head to Connecticut. Last year, I was fortunate enough to receive the James Marshall Fellowship from the University of Connecticut. That means I have the opportunity to look through the papers of author-illustrator James Marshall. (Big fan here of his work. I’m excited!) I was going to do that back in October, but it was the week my father passed away. So, I had to re-schedule. And now it’s here — the week I’m finally going!

I’m really looking forward to looking through the Marshall Papers all this week, which means I’ll see lots of sketches and art. I’ll also have the opportunity to meet people up there in Connecticut who knew and love Marshall (who passed away in 1992).

That takes care of all seven of my kicks this week.

I’ll be able to read your kicks later today, BUT I won’t fly back till next Sunday, so this means that a) 7-Imp will be quiet this week and b) this post will still be here Sunday, April 10th, and I’m sorry I won’t have new art for you then. If you want to leave your kicks for next Sunday, too, at this same post, that’d make me happy. But no pressure.

And then after all that, I’ll be back on schedule.

See you on the other side of next week!

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Today over at Kirkus, I take a look at the newest U.S. release from Japanese author-illustrator Akiko Miyakoshi. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Jo Ellen Bogart’s The White Cat and the Monk, illustrated by Sydney Smith. Today, I follow up with some art from it.

Enjoy!

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“I feel that inspiration is everywhere. You just have to find it. To look, observe — the streets, the walls, the pavement, the windows, the traffic jams, and so on. …

I feel that everybody is ready for this experience, including children. There’s a real connection between art and children. Children don’t know anything, and they are open to understanding everything. That’s their strength. That’s why I feel books can bring children to amazing places.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to author-illustrator Hervé Tullet, pictured here, about his newest book, Let’s Play! (Chronicle, March 2016). That chat is here.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Hervé used by permission of Chronicle Books.

 

 
If you like the artwork of Gareth Hinds, pictured right, you’re in for a treat today. In this, his breakfast visit to 7-Imp, he shares a whole heapin’ lot of artwork, and it’s my pleasure to feature it.

You may have already heard a lot this year about Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune. (Pictured above is an early sketch from the book.) It is the 256-page nonfiction account, written by Pamela S. Turner and illustrated by Gareth, of the life of 12th-century samurai Minamoto Yoshitsune, and it has been met with a host of starred reviews. Booklist calls it “pure excitement”; Kirkus calls it a “well-researched narrative told with true grit”; and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books writes, “It’s not often that ‘biography’ and ‘page-turner’ come together in one thought, but Turner’s tale of the twelfth-century warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune is just the work to draw samurai fans from the manga and movie aisles into the nonfiction shelves.” It’s even a book getting early Newbery buzz. Gareth’s eloquent brush-and-ink drawings open each chapter of the book.

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“Jack, Zack, and Caspar, brave mariners three,
were building a galleon down by the sea.
Up rose the sides and the stern and the bow.
Zack, the ship’s bosun, worked hard on the prow.”
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Today, I’ve got some artwork from the great Helen Oxenbury. On shelves this month from Dial is Captain Jack and the Pirates, written by Peter Bently. The book was originally published last year in the UK and was evidently shortlisted for the Kate Greeenaway Medal.

The story is the rhyming adventure of three young boys, engaging in imaginative pirate play on the shore on a warm, sunny day. The boys’ imagination takes them far — rolling on the high seas, running from pirates and roaring hurricanes. They’re young, these adventure-seekers; one is even in a diaper and can usually be seen with his pacifier. Oxenbury’s watercolors are expressive and detailed; the color spreads are full-bleed, as if readers are right there with the boys on their undertaking, and occasionally we see pencil sketches, breaking up the action and giving readers a breath. As usual, Oxenbury puts the endpapers to use to help tell even more of the boys’ story, which all wraps up with the parents calling the boys to the table for sweets and ice cream. (Mmm.)

The Kirkus review calls the book “gently and agreeably thrilling.” Yes. That. Below is one more spread. Enjoy!

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