Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow, /
Like white moths trembling on the tropic air, /
Or waters of the hills that softly flow /
Gracefully falling down a shining stair. …”
— From Claude McKay’s “To One Coming North”
(Click image to see spread in its entirety)

I’m preparing for two presentations about children’s literature this week, on top of my regular work, so I’m going to be brief today. I share some artwork here from Karen Barbour, rendered in watercolor, ink, and collage, from African American Poetry (January 2013, though technically the copyright date is 2012), the latest in Sterling’s Poetry for Young People series.

Edited by Arnold Rampersad (Stanford University) and Marcellus Blount (Columbia University), this is a collection of poetry celebrating the works of African Americans over the last two hundred years. Blount selected the poems, and Rampersad writes the informative introduction. There’s a wide range of poetry here from the likes of Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and many more well-known names, as well as some lesser-known poets. Each poem opens with an annotation, which includes biographical info.

As the Kirkus review notes, one interesting thing about this collection is that “[a]typically, the editors steer largely clear of explicit racial or religious themes in their selections,” with but a couple of exceptions.

See? I really was brief. For once. ‘Cause I really do have my work cut out for me this week. Here’s another piece of Karen’s artwork from the book. (Note: The final illustration as it appears in the book is slightly different from the one below.)

Until later … Read the rest of this entry �

 
It’s kicks #313 on the 13th in 2013.

Surely that means something?

Ah well. I am declaring it means only good things.

Today at 7-Imp I welcome a debut author/illustrator, named Angela Dominguez (pictured left with Hugo), who is originally from Mexico City but now lives in San Francisco, where she also teaches at the Academy of Art University. Angela’s debut picture book will be released this March from Dial Books. Let’s Go, Hugo! tells the story of a bird who prefers walking to flying. He’s not trying to be different for the sake of it; he’s actually afraid of flying. Not that Dominguez opens the book this way. “Hugo was content to live on the ground,” she writes, but we readers ease into the notion that he’s really beset by fears.

Things change when Hugo meets Lulu, the same day he’s building a model (on the ground, of course) of the Eiffel Tower. When Lulu tells him they can fly to the Eiffel Tower and see the real deal, Hugo’s got all kinds of excuses as to why he won’t go. Just when things start to feel really hopeless for Hugo (since Lulu does what she can, but nearly gives up on him) … well, I can’t give the entire story away, but if you’re interested in reading it, it’ll be on bookstore and library shelves, come Spring.

The illustration note on the copyright page indicates that Dominguez uses “Canson paper, ink, [and] tissue paper … on illustration board.” Angela’s here today to tell us a bit more about this and her work, so let’s get right to it. I thank her for visiting. Read the rest of this entry �

One of Jonathan’s early studies from the book
(Click to enlarge)

I love this post so much, and it’s all thanks to author/illustrator Jonathan Bean.

Last week over at Kirkus, I wrote about his newest picture book, Building Our House, released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux this month. (That link is here.) I discussed why I really like this book, but today I’m here to follow up with some art from the book.

I always do this, as I get twitchy if I don’t get to share art. (Pictured right is a cutting from one of the book’s spreads.)

However, Jonathan also went out of his way today (I’m yelling that in excitement) to share early studies, sketches, some process shots, and even photos of his family building this house back in the ’70s. There’s even more than all that.

For all this, I raise my coffee mug to Mr. Bean. Sharing lots of images that show us picture book fans (me and my imp’y readers) how a book was made is how you win over this blogger. Shoot, I’ll even buy him a cup of coffee if I ever meet him in person. And a cookie, if he wants one.

Let’s get right to it. There’s lots of good stuff to see here, especially if you like his style, his art, his books—all of the above—as much as I do.

Note: Jonathan also visited The Horn Book recently for their five-questions series. That link is here. Best part? Roger Sutton asks, “What is the most useful home repair tip you know?” to which Jonathan replies, “I know from personal experience that humming a soothing melody helps unclog a drain.”

Read the rest of this entry �

Today over at Kirkus, I’ve got a brief Q&A with author/illustrator Bob Staake about his upcoming Spring picture book release from Schwartz & Wade Books, Bluebird, pictured left, which is simply stunning. (I was lucky enough to see an early copy.)

I also ask him about December’s Look! Another Book! (Little, Brown), which is the very fun sequel to 2011’s Look! A Book!, as well as what’s next on his plate.

That Q&A is here.

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll follow up with some sketches and artwork from Bob.

Tomorrow at Kirkus, I take a look at My Father’s Arms Are a Boat (Enchanted Lion), originally published in Norgwegian in 2008 and written by Stein Erik Lunde and illustrated by Øyvind Torseter. That link will be here in the afternoon on Friday. (Notice that Kirkus has all spiffy-like redesigned their site.)

Until then …

Here’s a quick post, since work awaits me, one more title from 2012 to look at before we get knee-deep into 2013.

Last September TOON Books released David Nytra’s The Secret of the Stone Frog, and if you missed it, I highly recommend finding a copy. As you know (or if you don’t, you can read this 2011 column I wrote), TOON Books brings us early-reader comics, so what we have here is technically an early reader. This could also be classified a graphic novel, as Nytra lays out the action in panels.

This is the story of Leah and Alan, who inexplicably wake up in the forest beneath a giant tree. Not knowing which way is home, a rhyming frog, made of stone, suddenly appears to assist. “Stay on the path!” he tells the siblings. On their journey, they encounter giant bees, who steal words and are the pets of a strange woman (clearly a run-away from a lost Lewis Carroll tale), living in a giant house in the middle of nowhere. After their escape, they stumble into an orchard with a trio of snappily-dressed lions (“Why, James, it appears that a few children have SPROUTED in our garden!”), who introduce them to giant rabbits. The children hop onto the rabbits for an exhilarating ride to a tunnel, where things get even stranger. Fear not; they make it back home, but I can’t ruin the entire read for you. Read the rest of this entry �

 
See that video? Those are outtakes from my attempt with author/illustrator Stephen Savage (pictured left with Trinka in his studio) to do a video interview. He had the great idea of doing a breakfast interview with video or iPhone cameras—just me and him, back and forth—but you can see how well that went. At least we had fun with finger puppets and Play-Doh.

We eventually gave up the idea of a video chat, but I found all our old videos last night, all our failed attempts, and created this, not really knowing what I was doing at all with the movie-making software, as you can tell by the absence of good things like music and smooth transitions. (When our back-and-forth questions and answers were done, had we actually pulled it off, Stephen—who knows what he’s doing with video—was to create the video interview.) The choppy, clumsy nature of what I made above shows you one of the reasons we never pulled it off. One day. One day, I say, I’ll learn all about makin’ movies. Watch your back, Scorsese.

But, hey, it was really fun chatting with him face-to-face for a while there. Plus, as a friend said, it’s impressive how we get nothing accomplished in the nearly four-minutes of footage. Also, it’s seriously fun to witness Stephen’s changing hairstyles here.

Stephen’s here this morning instead for the old-fashioned, regular breakfast interview at the 7-Imp salon. His timing is good, given that he has a new illustrated title out. Lauren Thompson’s Polar Bear Morning was just released by Scholastic this month, and it’s the follow-up to 2004’s Polar Bear Night (also by Lauren), which was one of the New York Times’ Best Illustrated Books of the Year. Polar Bear Morning has already been met with a starred review from Kirkus, who praises its “clever composition,” noting that the “deceptive simplicity of the playful graphic design masks great sophistication.” Indeed. What they said.

It’s good to have Stephen here, given that at the release of 2011’s Where’s Walrus? (Scholastic), which he both wrote and illustrated, I was hankerin’ for him to visit over coffee. (Turns out that simply “coffee” is his breakfast-of-choice, too.) If somehow you missed this acclaimed book in 2011 … well, there are some spreads from it featured below. It’s a visually delightful, “incongruously silly” (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books) keeper. Last year’s Little Tug (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook) was also a visual treat; as you can see with the art he shares in today’s interview, Stephen has a background in editorial illustration, and his crisp, bold artwork is well-suited to the big, round eyes of the youngest of readers.

See what I mean? See these beautiful spreads from Polar Bear Morning, rendered via linoleum block printing? Read the rest of this entry �

Today’s the first Sunday of the month, so I welcome a student illustrator. Her name is Sairom Moon, and though she’s originally from South Korea, she comes to 7-Imp by way of her instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), illustrator Shadra Strickland.

Let’s get right to Sairom’s introduction, in her own words … Read the rest of this entry �

Today over at the Kirkus Book Blog Network, I have some thoughts on Jonathan Bean’s newest picture book, the excellent Building Our House. That link is here.

(Incidentally, this particular column will also appear in the print version of Kirkus — the January issue.)

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll follow up with lots of images from Jonathan, including photographs, early sketches, and final art.

(Click on image to see entire spread from which it comes)

Squeak. Grunt. Stumble. That’s how I feel my words are today, since I took a sort of holiday blog break there, didn’t I? (That is, with the exception of my ginormously nerdy 2012 recap, but I think those are fun.)

But here I am, and fortunately today I don’t have to compose that many words, since this is a follow-up post to last week’s Kirkus column. It was over there last Friday that I wrote about the good thing that happened when author Neil Gaiman and author/illustrator Adam Rex collaborated. I’m talking specifically about Chu’s Day, released by HarperCollins in early January. Chu is pictured right, mid-sneeze. I know what you’re thinking: THE PRECIOUS. Yes, he appears adorable. But no, my dear imps, keep outta the way of that boy’s sneeze, I tell you. (As a reminder, we got a sneak-peek of this book back in July of 2012.)

I also weighed in on debut author (and editor) Jesse Klausmeier’s Open This Little Book, illustrated by Suzy Lee and released by Chronicle. (An illustration from it is pictured at the tippy-top of this post.) That column is here, if you missed it last week and are so inclined to read.

Today, I’m here to share art, since I start to get twitchy if I don’t get to showcase picture book art from the books about which I write.

Also, there are two special treats today: Adam shares early sketches from Chu’s Day, and for Open This Little Book … well, you’ll see the treat below.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

It’s time to look back, dear Imps, on what happened at 7-Imp during 2012 and look at who graced the site with their presence—all with my buddy here, Alfred—simply because I am a hopeless nerd, who enjoys recaps. As I’ve said during the past couple of years, including during 2011’s recap, this is fun to me. Also, it satisfies the tremendous picture book junkie in me.

Since 7-Imp is devoted to contemporary illustration—with a particular focus on picture books—these end-of-year recaps can be an awful lot like looking back at the state of picture books during a given year, even though I certainly didn’t have the time to cover every book I wanted to discuss. I’m not promising any kind of analysis or commentary here on picture book-dom in 2012, by any means. I just like to kick back and see who has visited and what insightful things they had to say, as well as look at some wonderful illustrations. Besides, I don’t consider 7-Imp a review blog. There are lots of other blogs who are very good at that. As I write at this page of the site, I like to think of it as a sort of literary salon where authors and illustrators stop by, after getting a cup of cyber-coffee, to share their craft — and where illustrators wake us up with art.

All of that is also one way of saying, as I did last year: This long post is good for browsing, especially if you like to see picture book art.

And, because I occasionally like to give the 7-Imp platform over to student illustrators or up-and-coming illustrators, you’ll see more experienced authors and illustrators, even the award-winning ones, sharing space here with the illustrators of the future … future … future. [Say that with an echo.] I think it’s a) important to give newbies the spotlight and b) it’s fun, too.

If I take a look at what was new to 7-Imp in 2012—before we look at who visited, that is, and all kinds of artwork—I run the risk of actually sounding organized, which I’m not. Or as if I’m someone who blogs 40 hours a week, which I’m also not. Since blogging comes after my children, the work-that-pays, and other things that allow me to have a life, I’m kind of scattered, have no real 7-Imp Action Plans, and you should just see my system of organization (chicken-scratch-scrawled Post-it notes stuck all over my very messy desk).

(This is precisely what I said last year, but it bears repeating. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that is Frank Viva’s rodent up above from September’s A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse. I rather covet his winter hat there.)

But … let me give this a shot anyway, an attempt to ponder what was new in 2012: Read the rest of this entry �