Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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Instead of featuring a brand-new picture book today or an up-and-coming illustrator, I’ve got artwork from one of my favorite picture book artists, Elisa Kleven.

The new year is upon us, and when I thought about sharing artwork as we edge up on 2013, some art that would buoy our spirits, I immediately thought of her.

Elisa sent me a handful of illustrations, and it was hard to choose which to share (for many reasons, I’m going to keep this post relatively short and sweet this week), but I chose the one above, and these two: Read the rest of this entry �

You all know how I like to do 7-Imp year-end recaps (here was last year’s), on account of being a ginormous nerd? I’m working on 2012’s now. I enjoy doing them.

In the meantime, though, I took a break to write, over at my Kirkus column, about two juicy-good early 2013 picture book titles:

That link is here this morning, if you’re so inclined to read it.

[Note: I just discovered that it’s best to read those columns using Internet Explorer — that, if you use Google Chrome, as I tend to do, some text gets cut off. Just noting this for any readers.]

Until later …

“Mountains of gifts are placed under the tree for eight nights of Hanukkah,
plus Christmas Day. How lucky am I?”
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This morning, I welcome author and illustrator Selina Alko to tell us all a bit about her latest picture book, Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama, a story about a family who merges two holiday traditions. Sadie, the young girl narrating the story, has a father who has always celebrated Christmas, a mother who has always celebrated Hanukkah, and they annually combine the traditions of each holiday event in order to teach their daughter about both. Selina—using gouache, collage, and colored pencil, which result in such appealing textures here—lays it all out on the pages of this book with vibrant colors and great joy. She’s here today to share some artwork from the book (sans text), as well as early dummy images, and to tell us the story behind the book.

Toward the end of this post, I’ve also got some holiday illustrations from several illustrators, just ’cause I’m an illustration junkie and couldn’t help it. Let’s get right to it all … Read the rest of this entry �

“Cursing loudly, Bradley struggled free of the thorny stems. He had barely caught his breath when six sleek, stripy shapes came bounding toward him out of the snow. …”
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This week at the Kirkus Book Blog Network, I didn’t write about a picture book, as I usually do. I still have last week’s events in Connecticut on my mind, as many of us do, and wrote a bit about that. That link is here today.

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Last week, I wrote about Jonathan Emmett’s The Santa Trap, originally published in Great Britain in 2009 but released this year here in the U.S. by Peachtree. It’s illustrated by Poly Bernatene, who lives in Argentina and teaches at the Buenos Aires School of Fine Art. If you’d like to read about it, that link was here last Friday, and today I share some art from it.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

Poor Santa. Looks like he’s having a rough time.

That illustration comes from Richard Curtis’ The Empty Stocking, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, who is visiting for breakfast this morning. “My favourite breakfast,” she told me, “is a banana and some toast, and I don’t like tea or coffee, but I do like the comforting idea of a warm drink, so I always drink hot water instead.” I gotta have my coffee, but I like the way she thinks. Comforting, indeed. I’m setting out some hot water for her and my own coffee mug.

If Rebecca’s name isn’t familiar to you, that’s because she lives and works in the UK. But you all know I like to see what illustrators across the big, wide pond are doing.

Rebecca has both written and illustrated some of her own titles and has also collaborated with authors such as Helen Dunmore and UK Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson. Rebecca’s Missing Mummy, a picture book about the death of a young boy’s mother, was shortlisted for the 2012 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.

I thank her for visiting this morning and sharing her art. Let’s get right to it.

Read the rest of this entry �

“‘Oh, come with me!’ the boy exclaimed. / My stable’s a warm place. /
‘My animals will welcome you, / I’ll sweep and clear a space.'”
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So, I was going to write all about Ashley Bryan’s beautiful, new picture book, Who Built the Stable? A Nativity Poem, released by Atheneum in October. Then I remembered that this Q&A with Ashley, conducted by Jenny Brown, is over at the Kirkus Book Blog Network. Therefore, I send you over there, should you want to read more about the book. (And here, for the record, is Kirkus’ starred review of the book.)

Here’s an interview excerpt: Read the rest of this entry �

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Sometimes you’re just minding your own business, trudging along and doin’ your work, when lo and behold, an email from an aspiring illustrator appears in your in-box. And then, after reading the friendly email, you click on the illustrator’s site. And you say to yourself when you see the art work at said site, holy wow. This guy is going places.

And then you think, after seeing this exciting, new artwork: THIS. This is a large part of why I blog. Getting to see, and subsequently share, artwork like this from illustrators of the future [future … future]. (In brackets is the echo, which you yourself can provide, unless you’re reading this at work in a quiet library, in which case you should probably just provide the echo in your head alone, lest you disturb your patrons.) And then you think: If only I were all-powerful and ran the world, dang, I’d get this guy an agent and a book deal already.

Or at least this happens if you’re me and you get an email from art student Ethan Aldridge. Alas and alack, I am not all-powerful (blast it), but I can at least show you his artwork and see if any of you want to ooh! and ahh! along with me, ’cause I sense some serious potential here. Here’s part of what Ethan wrote in his initial email to me:

I am working on becoming a children’s book illustrator. It is a career I have been interested in ever since the age of five (so my mother tells me). Some of my fondest childhood memories are of sitting in my backyard, pouring over Peter Sís’s illustrations in Jack Prelutsky’s The Dragons are Singing Tonight, totally enchanted. Ever since, I have wanted to create such beautiful books (apart from a brief stint where I wanted to become a stage magician). The college I am currently attending, while having a wonderful art department, is fairly small and lacks programs that focus on illustration. As a result, I have had to self-teach myself much of the art of picture books.

Read the rest of this entry �

“‘Pinocchio, come up here where I am!’ shouted Harlequin. ‘Come throw yourself into the arms of your wooden brothers!’ At this affectionate invitation, Pinocchio leapt from the back of the pit into the expensive seats, then jumped again
from the expensive seats onto the orchestra conductor’s head,
and then sprang from there onto the stage.”

Today, over at the Kirkus Book Blog Network, I have some thoughts on my favorite new holiday picture book. That link is here.

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Last week, I wrote about Philip Pullman’s Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version (Viking Adult, November), as well as Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, released in October by the New York Review Children’s Collection, translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock, and illustrated by Fulvio Testa, one of Italy’s most distinguished artists and illustrators. You can read all about both books at that link, and today I follow up with some of Testa’s art from Pinocchio.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

Here’s a quick post, given that work is giving me the skunk eye, and it’s filled with art from Quentin Blake. (This post, that is. Not my work, unfortunately.)

If you’re a fan of Blake’s work, there were at least (heaven knows there may be more I’ve missed this year) three book releases in 2012 that will make you happy, and I’m here today to share art from them.

Pictured above is Blake’s Ebenezer Scrooge, post-epiphany and just before telling Bob Cratchit that he’s going to raise his salary. More on that below.

First up: In August, Candlewick released Michael Rosen’s Bananas in My Ears: A Collection of Nonsense Stories, Poems, Riddles & Rhymes. These poems were first published in the U.K. in different years under different titles—Smelly Jelly Fish and Under the Bed in 1986 and Hard-boiled Legs and Spollyollydiddlytiddlyitis in ’87—but are now compiled here for this U.S. release. These are poems divided into four categories, the names following the original book titles, with the exception of the section called “Smelly Jelly Smelly Fish.” The first section is sub-titled “The Breakfast Book,” and it’s followed by “The Seaside Book,” “The Doctor Book,” and “The Bedtime Book.” Read the rest of this entry �

First sketch of Mr. Insomniac

7-Imp readers know I like to ask Seven Questions Over Breakfast with creators of picture books here in 7-Imp Land, but today I’m having a late-afternoon/almost-evening snack with illustrators Ben and Sean Hilts, a.k.a. The Brothers Hilts. Now, I failed to ask them about their favorite late-afternoon snack, though for the record, their breakfasts-of-choice are French Toast with a side of bacon (Ben) and eggs over medium with hash browns, not home fries, please (Sean). I’m ever-so good, though, with snacking on these tonight, while we chat and look at their artwork.

Why is this a late-afternoon snack? What did poor breakfast ever do to get snubbed by us three? Well, did you see the picture book The Brothers Hilts illustrated this year, written by Karina Wolf? The Insomniacs is a delicious, late-night tale, if there ever was one, so I think it’s only fitting I post this chat with them as the sun’s slipping away and the moon is sneaking up on us.

Back in July, I wrote over at the Kirkus Book Blog Network about The Insomniacs, so you can head over there (here’s the link) if you want to read more about it. I was happy when the Society of Illustrators awarded Ben and Sean the 2012 Founder’s Award this Fall for their illustrations in this book, which Kirkus called a “quietly magnificent paean to the wonder of nighttime and the solidity of a family unit.” With their shadowy art within, Ben and Sean manage to show how darkness can be “full of life,” which is what the Insomniac family comes to realize in their entertaining, offbeat tale.

Let’s get right to it. I thank Ben and Sean for visiting today and sharing their artwork so generously. Read the rest of this entry �