Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“[W]e’ve rounded another corner, and the conversation is getting more interesting. It used to be all about the graphic novel format — every other news article on a graphic novel for a while was ‘oh wow, it’s comics, but it’s good,’ which sometimes got a bit insulting to all these prodigious authors doing remarkable work. But now it’s about substance, and it’s about author voice. It’s about the writing, as you say, about immigration, or the speeding up of modern life, or about getting married, or growing up with a disability, or simply growing up — about the human experience, in other words. Which is a far more vital conversation than endlessly discussing a format.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to the Editorial Director of First Second Books, Mark Siegel. First Second is celebrating a decade of making high-quality graphic novels for children and teens.

That link is here, and I’ll follow this up next week with some art here at 7-Imp.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Mark Siegel used by his permission.

I’ve got a review here over at BookPage of the debut picture book from Julie Falatko, illustrated by Tim Miller. It’s called Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book!), released by Viking this month. Pictured above is one of Tim’s early character sketches.

Today, in another edition of the 7-Imp Picture-Book Roundtable Discussion, Julie, Tim, and the book’s editor, Joanna Cardenas, join me to talk about the book. (The art director was super swamped and had to bow out.)

If you’re a regular 7-Imp reader, you may remember when Tim visited back here in 2013 — back before publication. It’s so great to see his debut. As I note in my review, I like this book, so let’s get right to the conversation. (My favorite part comes down to a tie between “Truman Capote Chicken” and a mention of Fellini Satyricon.)

I thank all the creators for taking the time to chat about it.

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My interview with author-illustrator Jessixa Bagley, where (delightfully) she likens the planning of her career to the art of the mix tape, will be in the current print issue of Kirkus. But I see they’ve posted it online too. Click the image below to head to our chat:

 

Until tomorrow!

“It’s got bright, waving things attached to it like huge kites. It’s got colors.
It’s got sound. It’s got, it’s got—WHEELS!”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage (here) of Linda Sarah’s Big Friends (Henry Holt, January 2016), illustrated by Benji Davies and first published in the UK in 2014 as On Sudden Hill. And you all know I get twitchy when writing about picture books but not sharing art from the insides of them, so here today are a few spreads from the book.

And here’s my March 2015 interview with Benji, if you want to see lots more art.

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“It doesn’t pay to get too fonda /
Your python or your anaconda.”
— From Consider the Lemming

 

— From the endpapers of Donkey-Donkey

 

“There was a little little bird.”
— From The Happy Egg
(Click image to see spread with text and in its entirety)

 
Today over at Kirkus, I’ve got Valentine’s Day on the mind. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about some recent and upcoming picture book reissues — Roger Duvoisin’s Donkey-Donkey, three books by Jeanne and William Steig, and The Happy Egg by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson. I’m following up today with art from each book.

[Please note: Some of the colors are slightly brighter in some of the art below. In the case of The Happy Egg, the yellow is significantly brighter than it appears in the book. Computers. What can you do?]

Enjoy!

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I’ve got some art today from Rachel Isadora’s I Hear a Pickle: (And Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!), published last month by Nancy Paulsen Books, as a follow-up to the Q&A I did with her last week at Kirkus.

Enjoy!

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“Once upon a time, in a beautiful glass kingdom,
there lived an unusual fairy named Bloom. …”
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)

 
Over at BookPage, I’ve got a review here of Doreen Cronin’s Bloom, illustrated by David Small (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum, February 2016).

As a follow-up to that, David is sharing today some early sketches/images from the book, as well as some thoughts about those preliminary images, and I’ve got some final spreads from the book too. (Please note that, in the final spreads, the colors appear slightly darker/bolder than they do in the book. Ah, computers.)

I thank David for sharing. Enjoy!

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“Jack reached a hill and climbed to the top. No perfect trees were there.
He climbed down the other side. Nothing.
The perfect tree was really very hard to find.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’ve got a review here over at BookPage of Chloe Bonfield’s The Perfect Tree (Running Press, January 2016). This is the debut book for Bonfield, who lives in London. I’m following up that review today with two spreads from the book.

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— From Beatrix Potter &
the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig
(Click to enlarge)

 

— From Say It!


 
Today at Kirkus, I look at some reissues that make me happy. That link is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about, in part, Deborah Hopkinson’s newest picture book, Beatrix Potter & the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig (Schwartz & Wade, February 2016), illustrated by Charlotte Voake. I’ve got art from that today.

And, because I love Voake’s illustrations so much, I’ve also got art here today from Say It!, which was reissued last September (Candlewick) with illustrations from Voake. The book was originally published in 1980 and was illustrated by James Stevenson. This reissue is oh-so beautiful.

AND … one more! Since we’re on the topic of Beatrix Potter, I’ve got a spread below from David McPhail’s Beatrix Potter and Her Paint Box, which was released last October (Henry Holt).

Enjoy!

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“I love telling stories, and I would say that writing and illustrating for children is not really different from writing or illustrating for adults. The plots might be more complicated, but the messages and connections with the reader are the same. That is why children and adults share joy when experiencing a book together.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to author-illustrator Rachel Isadora, quoted here, about her new book — and about her career of making picture books for children, which began in the ’70s.

That link is here.

Until tomorrow …