Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“We pray for the victims of violence and war,
for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.”
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I’m going to keep this really short and merely say that it seems like a good week to post some art from naturalist Jane Goodall’s A Prayer for World Peace, which Minedition released this month. The illustrations from Iranian artist Feeroozeh Golmohammadi are captivating. Goodall’s text is a plea for us all to, with humility, “shun dogma,” “become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion,” remember the refugees forced from their homes, end cruelty, take care of our planet and its animals, “learn to take nothing for granted in this life,” and much more.

Let’s just let the art do the talking. There’s more of it below.

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Good morning, all. I’d initially planned on another post for today, but it will have to wait, since I wasn’t able to secure all the art for it in time.

Instead, I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Alessandro Gatti’s and Pierdomenico Baccalario’s The Story of Snowflake and Inkdrop, illustrated by Simona Mulazzani and released by Enchanted Lion Books this month. The book was originally published two years ago in Italy.

The review is here, and below is some more art from the book.

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— From Mark Pett’s Lizard from the Park

 

“Scritch. Scratch. Chip! Whoosh! The swift family swarms from the chimney. …”
— From Marilyn Grohoske Evans’ Spit & Sticks: A Chimney Full of Swifts,
illustrated by Nicole Gsell
(Click to enlarge spread and read full text)

 
This morning over at Kirkus I write about Tom Angleberger’s new picture book, McToad Mows Tiny Island (Abrams, September 2015), illustrated by John Hendrix. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Mark Pett’s Lizard from the Park (Simon & Schuster, September 2015), as well as Marilyn Grohoske Evans’ Spit & Sticks: A Chimney Full of Swifts, illustrated by Nicole Gsell (Charlesbridge, September 2015), so I’ve got art from each book today.

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I’ve got a chat this morning over at Kirkus with one of my favorite illustrators, Lisbeth Zwerger. That is here.

Next week here at 7-Imp I’ll have lots more of Zwerger’s art.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Ms. Zwerger used by permission and taken by Willy Puchner.

” … only / Miss Augusta / and I / are here /
in a room / filled with magic / story / rhyme. …”
(Click image to see in detail and read the poem in its entirety)

 
I’m keeping things very brief today here at 7-Imp, though I do hope you leave your kicks from the week, because I’m traveling now. I’m in D.C. to moderate the third annual picture book panel at Politics & Prose. This will be tonight and is all about picture books for older readers with Jason Chin, Jacqueline Woodson, Christopher Myers, John Parra, and Chris Soentpiet. I’m looking forward to the discussion.

I’m sharing today my very favorite spread from Jumping Off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems (WordSong, September 2015), selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Jane Manning. These are poems about libraries, blessed libraries, and I love this spread so much, as it pays tribute to the one and only Augusta Baker.

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.

I do hope you leave your kicks, and it may take me a while to respond this week — but I will.

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Pictured top: One of Barbara Lehman’s early sketches from Alison Paul’s The Plan;
Bottom: Illustration from Lizi Boyd’s Big Bear Little Chair

 
Today over at Kirkus, I’ve got two new November’y picture books. That link is here.

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Last week I wrote here about Lizi Boyd’s Big Bear Little Chair (Chronicle, October 2015), as well as Alison Paul’s The Plan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 2015), illustrated by Barbara Lehman. (Did you know Alison is an illustrator too? Here’s her site.)

I’ve got art from each book today, and Barbara also shares some early sketches from The Plan.

Enjoy!

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“‘He doesn’t stink,’ the girl adds. ‘No, he doesn’t,’ I agree.
What if we start our own club?'”

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Lisa Mantchev’s Strictly No Elephants (Paula Wiseman Books, October 2015), illustrated by Taeeun Yoo.

That review is here, and today Taeeun is sharing some art (linoleum block prints, pencil, and a bit of Photoshop) and early sketches from the book. I thank her for sharing.

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I’ve got three quick 7-Imp announcements, and I’m going to use rock-and-roll hands, instead of bullet points, because rock-and-roll hands are infinitely more exciting.

I’ve got a guest post today over at Calling Caldecott about Mordicai Gerstein’s The Night World.

I already reviewed this beautiful book back in June for BookPage, but writing about it in even more detail for Calling Caldecott made me love it all the more. (Here’s art from the book.)

This Sunday, I’ll moderate the third annual picture book panel at Politics & Prose in D.C. This panel will be all about picture books for older readers with Jason Chin, Jacqueline Woodson, Christopher Myers, John Parra, and Chris Soentpiet.

Here are the details. (Nancy Paulsen is listed at that link, but she’ll be unable to attend.)

Spam and so-called spam bots have been making things difficult lately here at 7-Imp. But the webmaster (my personal tech support, my husband) has installed the WordPress plug-in reCAPTCHA, which we are testing in order to address this spam aggression. Should you have trouble posting a comment, which will now require you to type in a word to prove you’re not spam (sorry), please contact me.

There’s a lot more I need to do here at 7-Imp (the archive pages are woefully out-of-date), but at least the spam problem is solved. Maybe. Fingers crossed.

Until tomorrow …

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It’s the first Sunday of the month (happy November!), so I’m featuring the artwork of a recent grad today. Her name is Amanda Moeckel, and she tells us all about herself below and shares more art, so let’s get right to it.

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— From The Dog That Nino Didn’t Have
(Click spread to enlarge)

 

“Noah gently stroked his dog’s tummy. ‘Good boy,’ he whispered. …”
— From Why Dogs Have Wet Noses
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— “Soon Mini’s dog had attracted quite a crowd. …”
From A Dog Wearing Shoes
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

— From Goodnight, Good Dog

 

— From Americanine: A Haute Dog in New York
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“‘PLUM!’ shouted Emma. ‘VERY BAD GIRL!’ she said.”
— From Love Is My Favorite Thing
(Click spread to enlarge)

 
This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got two brand-new picture books, one which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2015 on Wednesday.

That is here.

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Last week I wrote here about the dog days of … well, Autumn. Here today at 7-Imp I have some illustrations from each book. There’s lots more art below.

Enjoy!

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