Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“Because Amelia smiled, coming down the street…”
(Click to enlarge spread)

“When he got back to his rooftop and let his pigeons out, he wondered if maybe somehow, wherever Grandma was, she could see them.”
(Click to enlarge slightly)

First of all, see those two spreads up there? They come from the mind and paintbrush of the staggeringly talented David Ezra Stein. Last week at Kirkus, I wrote about his newest picture book, Because Amelia Smiled (Candlewick, September 2012). That column is here, if you missed it. What I wrote, partly, is that this book made me smile, it even made me get all misty-eyed from happiness, it darn well made me glad to be alive, and it made me want to stand on the corner and hand a copy to everyone I see. Now, would you want to miss a book like that?

 


 

What about this morning? Well, over at the the Book Blog Network today, I write about Michael Ian Black’s I’m Bored, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. So funny, this book about ennui (which is, of course, really about so much more). That column is here today.

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BECAUSE AMELIA SMILED. Copyright © 2012 by David Ezra Stein. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

I’M BORED. Copyright © 2012 by Michael Ian Black. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Illustration here reproduced by permission of the publisher, Simon & Schuster, New York.

“Sama, of Vayam, and Karune, of Gamte, stepped into the garden together.
They sat under the tree. And they began to talk.
What do you think they said?”(Click to enlarge spread)

Last week at the Kirkus Book Blog Network, I chatted with picture book author Lauren Thompson about her latest book, The Forgiveness Garden, which will be released later this month from Feiwel & Friends and which was illustrated by Christy Hale. You can see that Q & A here.

What I didn’t have room for over there last week were a few additional questions I had asked her about writing picture books in general, as well as one more particular question about this latest picture book. Below are those questions and responses, as well as some of Christy’s spreads from the book.

Enjoy.

Jules: My daughters and I have enjoyed so many of your books over the years. What do you love about writing picture books? Why write them (which I’m glad you do) and not, say, adult fiction? Read the rest of this entry �

Today, I’ve got the sleek, slick, eye-catching artwork of Canadian illustrator and designer Frank Viva to grace 7-Imp. I should probably note that I’ve got manuscript revisions givin’ me the skunk eye of scorn—kinda like mouse over here—reminding me I should be focusing on them instead, so short posts may be the name of the game for a while here. (Well, short for me.)

Viva’s new book is called A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse (September 2012), and it’s one of those fantastic TOON Books/easy-to-read comics, which I’ve written about (most recently) here at Kirkus. This is a level-one book, meaning it’s for the newest of readers.

What we have here is the tale of a young explorer and his sidekick, Mouse. The two travelers visit the beautiful Antarctic to see the sights, ride the waves in their boat, meet some penguins, and see a whale. Mouse is anxious to get home—“can we go home now?” is his repeated refrain—since the waves make it hard to do much and, based on his appearance, he’s generally anxious and ready to be back on terra firma. The final endpaper punch line, however, gives readers the rimshot ending: “Can we go back there soon?” Mouse asks. (Isn’t that the way with children on many road trip adventures?) Read the rest of this entry �

A portion of the back jacket illustration from Seed by Seed
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This morning over at Kirkus, I write about David Ezra Stein’s Because Amelia Smiled. Ah. So good. Go read it and smile. (That link is here.)

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Last week, I wrote about Esmé Raji Codell’s Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman, illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins. That link is here.

Today is a bit more art from the book.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry �

This morning over in Kirkus’ Book Blog Network, I chat with author Lauren Thompson, pictured here, about her latest picture book.

Lauren has written many picture books over the years that I’ve enjoyed — and shared with my own children. Her forthcoming book is called The Forgiveness Garden, and it’s illustrated by Christy Hale.

The Q&A is here this morning, and next week here at 7-Imp I’ll follow up with a few more questions and responses from Lauren, as well as some more art from Christy.

Enjoy.

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Photo credit: Carol Stevens.

Alice
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I’m featuring an unpublished illustrator today, and no, it’s not the first Sunday of the month, when I tend to feature students or folks brand-new to the field of children’s book illustration. But Little Willow emailed this week to point out to me the website of someone named Junyi Wu, and I went all gaga over her artwork and contacted her to see if she could visit today. I think her artwork is so beautiful that I could hardly wait. (Can I get seven cheers for Little Willow?)

Lucky for us, Junyi said yes.

Junyi, who lives in Los Angeles, tells me she works mostly in colored pencils and likes to play around with scale and layers. Below are some of her pieces—delicate, ethereal, otherwordly, and breathtaking, I think, in their clarity—and, when you’re done looking, raise your hand if you fell for them hard like I did.

Here are some Junyi links, if you like what you see here and want to see even more: her website; her blog; and her tumblr.

I’m just gonna hush now and let her artwork do the talkin’. Oh, except to say: Notice how I categorized this post under “picture books.” Junyi isn’t published yet, but hey, I can dream. Right? Read the rest of this entry �

Early sketch and final spread from Klaas Verplancke’s Applesauce
(Click to enlarge second image)

 
This morning over at Kirkus, I write about Esmé Raji Codell’s Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman, illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins. That link will be here.

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Last week, I wrote about Klaas Verplancke’s Applesauce, a 2010 Belgian import published here in the States by Groundwood Books this past July. That link is here.

This morning, I’ve got some spreads from the book, and Klaas also generously shares some early ballpoint-pen sketches. The first three images are character studies based on a self-portrait drawn by Klaas’s son Pieterjan, pictured here, whose questions were the inspiration for the book. Read the rest of this entry �

Early Lulu sketch

“Now, Lulu was an only child, and her mom and her dad gave her everything she wanted. And guess what? Lulu wanted EVERYTHING.”

 
Last week at Kirkus, I chatted here with author Judith Viorst about her very funny new chapter book for children, Lulu Walks the Dogs, the follow-up to Lulu and the Brontosaurus (the illustration above comes from the latter), both released by Atheneum/Simon & Schuster. We also discussed the enduring popularity of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and and her upcoming visit to Nashville’s Southern Festival of Books in October. In a few weeks, I’ll have the opportunity to meet Judith and introduce her at the Festival, so I’m looking forward to that.

This morning, I follow up here at 7-Imp with some art and sketches from the great Lane Smith, who illustrated both Lulu books. At the Q&A, here’s what Judith had to say about Lane:

I would like to talk worshipfully about Lane Smith, whose illustrations for the two Lulu books are beyond perfect. The girl leaps off the page in all her peevishness and outrageousness; the dinosaur is a model of elegant dignity; and the impossibly goody-good Fleischman and the three dogs in the second Lulu just crack me up.

Children’s book writers sometimes wish that they knew how to draw, so the pictures on the page could look exactly, exactly, how they wished they would look. Lane’s glorious drawings are beyond anything I was even capable of wishing for, and I am awash with gratitude.

Enjoy the art — first from Lulu Walks the Dogs and then a bit from Lulu and the Brontosaurus. Read the rest of this entry �

 
Zita’s back!

If you missed this 2011 7-Imp post, let me quickly summarize for you: Zita’s first set of adventures—Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl, released by First Second Books last year—is the story of a girl who lives on Earth but is transported to another planet when her friend is kidnapped by what can only be described as an alien doomsday cult. In the new world, she meets warrior robots; giant mice; mechanized, spider-like predators, out to get her; a mysterious man, also from Earth, named Piper; a large, lumpy, friendly creature named Strong-Strong; and the Scriptorians, the planet’s first inhabitants, who intend to use Zita’s friend Joseph as a ritual sacrifice to prevent the destruction of their planet. Whew. When it’s all said and done, Zita must make a huge sacrifice in order to help her friend.

In the new adventure—Legends of Zita the Spacegirl, which was released earlier this month and which Kirkus calls “a charmingly dashing interplanetary adventure” and “utterly bewitching”—Zita discovers that she’s now renowned as an intergalactic hero — but also that fame is not all it’s cracked up to be. Complicating matters is the junkyard robot Imprint-o-Tron who impersonates Zita after spotting a Zita poster. And I can’t give the entire story away, should you want to read this yourself, but I will say that Zita goes from hero to fugitive, and she must also learn how to work with the Zita-doppelganger to help save a planet. This tale also involves the mysterious and beautiful Madrigal, not to mention the evil Star Hearts, “interstellar scavengers capable of unassisted spaceflights” and the “scourge of many a planetary system.”

And, boy howdy, does the whole thing end with a big, juicy, delicious cliffhanger, too.

Zita, installment number two, doesn’t disappoint is what it boils down to. Our beloved protagonist is fearless and her adventures are thrilling. Or, in the words of Madrigal, Zita shines in a crisis and inspires loyalty. Yes. That, too.

I thought I’d interrupt all of creator Ben Hatke’s drawing to ask him how easy (or not) it was to write and draw the sequel; how many Zitas we can expect; and lots of other stuff, including ways in which I can bribe him and his family into stuffing me into their suitcase for their next trip to Italy, which may involve cookies. I also include a few questions from my own Zita-crazed daughters. (This is not something I regularly do, lest it become very kids-say-the-darndest-things here at 7-Imp, but I’ll do it just this once.)

On that note and with regard to this wonderful comic at Ben’s site, I have to say that Zita’s adventures went a long way in teaching my six-year-old how to read, given her immense devotion to the books. Now, my first child came out of my womb with a book in hand and nearly went from not-reading to reading fluently, but the six-year-old is learning to read as most children do, and I mean to tell you that she rips through these—way more than most books—because of her giant crush on Zita. To be clear, both girls are bananas over these books, but it’s remarkable how far the two books went in engaging the child still working her way around words in books.

Ben shares lots of art and early sketches from the new book today. I thank him for taking the time to visit 7-Imp again (especially for taking the reins on this interview, which he really did, given my busier-than-normal work schedule right now). Read the rest of this entry �

I really don’t want to run my mouth too much, honestly, about today’s featured title, Olivier Tallec’s Waterloo & Trafalgar.

And that’s because the book itself doesn’t come out until late next month, and I don’t want to ruin the reading experience for you.

I’ll say this much, though:

Tallec was born in France and worked in advertising before doing children’s book illustration. He’s illustrated about sixty children’s books, many of them brought here to the States by Enchanted Lion Books, who have published this new one. In this, his first wordless picture book, he demonstrates—though he’s got a good track record with it already—his exceptional skills with visual storytelling. Read the rest of this entry �