Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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“Now Satchel was up. … And when the pitch came in, he smacked it toward Bartell at short. He fumbled it, then fired to first. Satchel beat the throw and Brooks scored.
Or so Satch thought.”
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Last week at Kirkus, I chatted with author Robert Skead and illustrator Floyd Cooper about Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio, released by Carolrhoda Books in April.

I also reviewed Mo Willems’ new book at BookPage.

So, for both books (and given this post’s title), I’ve got some illustrations to share today.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

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“and wait . . .”
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Pictured directly above is the illustration, as I mentioned in my BookPage review, in Julie Fogliano’s if you want to see a whale (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook Press), illustrated by Erin E. Stead, that took my breath away when I turned the page and first saw it. You should do yourself a favor today, if you’ll allow me to make the suggestion, and click on that image to embiggen it. And just soak it in for a while. Boy howdy and howdy boy, do I love that spread.

Above that are some images that show how Erin Stead got from point A (or somewhere near it) to point B.

Last week, I linked here at 7-Imp to my BookPage review of this book, and I thought it’d be fun to follow up here at 7-Imp with some art from the book. Then Erin sent some sketches, too, and some images of what her process was like in creating these beautiful illustrations (linoleum blocks and pencil, as you’ll read below). I thank her for taking the time to share.

She sent these just yesterday, and I thought I’d post them soon; given a busier-than-normal schedule this week, I figured I’d be lucky to post them this week at all. But I just read that today is the book’s big release day, so I decided to drop what I was doing and post this now. (You might think, if I didn’t admit these things, I were actually organized.)

If you read my review, you know I love this book. It’s a whisper to a friend, a book you should step away from a busy schedule to read and savor, and a beautiful thing to share with a child.

Here’s Erin … Read the rest of this entry �

I’m not really yelling at you, dear Imp readers. You don’t have to put that liquor-filled chocolate down. That post title is really the name of a new picture book.

I don’t have an interview for you all today. (I tend to post “breakfast” interviews on Mondays or Tuesdays, don’t I? This just occurred to me. If I were blog-organized, I would have noticed this sooner.) Nor do I have any super special, behind-the-scenes sketches or such — or any authors or illustrators visiting. Instead, I’ve been busy the last few weeks prepping for a grad picture book course I’ll be teaching this summer (though I do have several interviews, squirming and wiggling and waiting to be posted).

But for today I do have a straight-up review, which I wrote for BookPage. It’s a review of Mo Willems’ new book, That is NOT a Good Idea! It is a good idea to read this book, though, because I enjoyed it. My thoughts are here, if you’re so inclined to read them.

I hope to have spreads from the book to show you later here at 7-Imp.

See you soon. …

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It’s the first Sunday of the month, when I give the 7-Imp breakfast table over to student or new illustrators, and this morning I welcome newly-graduated Elisabeth Craster. Craster is “a phenomenal draftswoman,” in the words of her instructor (and the award-winning illustrator) Shadra Strickland, who taught Elisabeth at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I believe Shadra also told me Elisabeth is a fan of the illustration work of Susan Jeffers, and you’ll understand why when you see more of her artwork below.

Elisabeth—who writes at her site, “It takes a special brand of crazy to go to school for art”—is visiting today to say a bit more about her work. She also writes at her site that she “aspires to create illustrated storybooks, book covers, and posters for children and young adults.” I thank her for visiting … Read the rest of this entry �

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“‘Maybe we should collect something,’ said Bink.”
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Selma G. Lanes once wrote, “If you would truly teach young children through the books they listen to or read themselves, give them a hero who is an unregenerately bad example, a rotter through and through.” At Kirkus today, I’ve got some thoughts on this, partially prompted by a picture book from Japanese author/illustrator Yoko Shima, who goes by Yokococo, called Matilda and Hans. That link is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about three new sequels (of sorts) that won’t let you down. They include (as pictured above) Ole Könnecke’s Anton and the Battle (Gecko Press, January 2013); Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile (Candlewick, April 2013); and Marilyn Singer’s Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems (Dial, February 2013), illustrated by Josée Masse.

Below, I’ve got a bit more art from Anton and the Battle, as well as Follow Follow. Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

— From Luke Pearson’s upcoming Hilda and the Bird Parade

— Above and immediately below:
Illustrations from Marguerite Abouet’s and Mathieu Sapin’s Akissi: Cat Invasion

 
I run the risk of looking like a bonafide Lazy Pants today—call me what you will; I can take it—but I’m going to lean on blogger/online colleagues and friends for today’s post.

I have a syllabus to finish building, and you know that Candlewick book I wrote with Betsy Bird and the late, great Peter D. Sieruta, coming your way Spring 2014? I have some to-do items on that, too. I have that work (and lots of other work) to do, and work always trumps blogging, out of necessity. (Boo. Sorry, blogging.)

I have lots of art to share, mind you. I’m just going to leave the words to others so that I can get back to work.

Here’s the low-down: Anyone else remember this conversation I had over at Kirkus last year with Sam Arthur, the director of the UK-based Nobrow Press? Well, soon after that—at the tail end of last year, I believe—Nobrow launched a dedicated children’s book imprint, called Flying Eye Books. In this first year, they’ve already released a handful of outstanding picture books and comics. (Pictured left is an illustration from Viviane Schwarz’s Welcome to Your Awesome Robot.)

I mean to tell you: It makes me inordinately happy that they produce books for children. For one, check out this manifesto of sorts. Here’s the beginning of it:

Apps and ebooks are great. They offer all the bells and whistles of a video game or TV show, they’re portable, cheap, they’re even dribble-proof! So why go to the trouble of printing books?

This may very well be the question on everyone’s minds at the moment and many think there’s a strong case for being rid of books altogether. But is that really what we all want? What would the world be like without beautiful, magical, tactile books? What would our homes look like? What would our children’s bedrooms be like? Where would that wondrous reveal of turning the pulpy, inky pages of a treasured picture book go?

Oh, just HEAR! HEAR!

Today, I’ve got art from three of Flying Eye’s new books to showcase, but remember that note about how I’ve got a lot of work to do? I’ll post the art (which always speaks way louder than I could anyway) and then step aside and link you to the reviews of others who have also seen and enjoyed these books this year — those whose reviews I respect and trust.

Sound good? Ready for lots of art? Let’s do it. Read the rest of this entry �

“Good little girls always show marked deference for the aged.
You ought never to ‘sass’ old people unless they ‘sass’ you first.”
— From Mark Twain’s Advice to Little Girls,
illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky
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— From Mies van Hout’s Friends
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— From Frank Viva’s A Long Way Away

I’m feeling ambitious today and am featuring three picture books this morning — not just one, as I usually do on Sundays. Actually, since Frank Viva is also giving me a sneak peek at his upcoming Fall picture book, I’ve got four.

What I have in mind is this: Each of these books is a follow-up book in one way or another — at least in my mind. See the Radunksy-illustrated title above? I featured another picture book illustrated by him recently (remember this one?), having forgotten altogether that I also wanted to show art from this book at the same time. As for the van Hout-illustrated title, I featured this book by van Hout last year, so I’m following up here today with his latest. And, finally, I’m following up with Frank Viva to see what he’s up to now (and this Fall, as already mentioned). Hence, the follow-up-ness of today’s post.

Let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry �

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This morning over at Kirkus, I write about three picture book sequels of sorts, and that link is here.

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Last week at Kirkus, I chatted briefly with London-based illustrator Paul Thurlby. As a follow-up today, I’ve got some illustrations (two spreads) from his new book, one pictured above and the rest below. Paul Thurlby’s Wildlife was released by Templar in March. (And if you missed the award-winning Paul Thurlby’s Alphabet in 2011, I featured it here at 7-Imp.)

Enjoy the art. Read the rest of this entry �

 
Here is Mark Pett, who is responsible for one of my favorite picture book spreads thus far this year, this one below, which you simply must click on to enlarge and see in its glory:

 

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That old man is from Pett’s The Boy and the Airplane (Simon & Schuster, April 2013), which I wrote about at Kirkus last week. If you’re wondering who he is and what he’s doing with that toy airplane, I explained it all last week in my column. This evening, I want to show some spreads from the book, and bonus! Mark is visiting to talk a bit about the book and share some more art, including a sneak-peek at a follow-up to The Boy and the Airplane. Let’s get to it, and I thank him for visiting … Read the rest of this entry �

Author/illustrator Selina Alko and I are cyber-meeting this morning for a delicious scone (“like, oh, chocolate cherry or lemon raspberry,” she recommends) and very large coffees, and since we can only cyber-meet (what with me being nearly a thousand miles away near Nashville and her in Brooklyn), we’ll do so in her setting of choice, a lovely light-filled café.

A “very large coffee.” Lots of light. Why, I can whole-heartedly get behind these things.

Selina—who has visited 7-Imp before, but not for a full-fledged interview—is sharing so very much art today that I want to get right to it, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t introduce you to her if, by some chance, you aren’t familiar with her books. As you’ll read below, Selina’s been illustrating picture books for almost ten years now with her brightly-colored, textured gouache and collage artwork — “funky [and] fun” is how Booklist once described her work. About B is for Brooklyn (Henry Holt, 2012), one of her most recent picture book titles, Kirkus wrote that her “[k]aleidoscopic mixed-media pages…are chockablock with vibrant images that fairly burst from the pages.” That could be said for a lot of Selina’s illustrated titles.

If that very large coffee doesn’t wake me up this morning, I know her vivid illustration work will. What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry �