Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

If you’ve ever seen a picture book illustrated by author/illustrator Zachary Pullen, you know that his large, full-bleed illustrations do not apologize for taking every inch of space. His richly-colored oil paintings can capture a wide range of emotions and draw in readers. Most of his characters, as you can see below, are large-headed, bold, not afraid to be who they are. Pullen’s exaggerated, somewhat askew perspective adds to this, drawing readers’ attention to the faces of his expressive, larger-than-life characters. “Affectionate caricatures” is how Publishers Weekly described Zak’s style for his illustrations in Richard Michelson’s latest picture book title, Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King (Sleeping Bear Press, February 2011). The review also notes many of the exciting “mid-action moments” Pullen chose to depict in many of the spreads. Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, 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.

I responded on a personal level to today’s featured picture book, Cinnamon Baby (Kids Can Press, February 2011) by Nicola Winstanley and illustrated by Janice Nadeau. (Wow. Check out that website for lots more art.) From a professional standpoint—as a children’s librarian, who studied children’s lit in grad school and who is always trying to separate the good children’s books from the not-so-good ones—I love it, too. It resonated with me on both of those levels, that is.

It’s the story of a baker named Miriam, who owns her own little bakery. She makes bread and makes it well: “She made a spicy bread, studded with little peppercorns and basil, and a sweet bread with ginger. She made a light, white loaf with dill, and a crusty brown one with sunflower seeds and honey.” (Mmm. See? The story had me right at the beginning.) The cinnamon bread, her favorite, she always saves for last. While baking, Miriam sings the songs her mother taught her as a child. It’s her beautiful voice and the aromas from her delicious bread that attract Sebastian one day, riding around on his bike, who asks Miriam to marry him. Read the rest of this entry �

This morning at Kirkus, I take a look at a handful of new picture book titles that are wordless or Mostly Wordless. If you’re so inclined, you can head over there for the low-down. Here’s the link. Next Friday here at 7-Imp, I’ll have art to show from all of those titles.

If you missed last week’s column, I discussed the wonderful-in-many-directions Anna Hibiscus chapter book series from Kane Miller, written by Nigerian storyteller Atinuke and illustrated by British artist Lauren Tobia. Here is that link. Below, I have some of the interior illustrations from the titles to share here at 7-Imp. The color illustration opening this post is from the upcoming Anna Hibiscus’ Song, which is going to be the first picture book about the unforgettable Anna. A little web sleuthing on my part also revealed to me this gorgeous illustration (at Lauren’s site). Read the rest of this entry �

Just in case on Monday (with the visit from author/illustrator Philip C. Stead) we illustration fans—and I use “we” here to mean myself and 7-Imp’s wonderful readers—didn’t get enough of that fascinating process stuff, the peek into the making of our favorite picture books, I’ve got a bit more today with illustrator Yuyi Morales, who visited me in 2009. Yuyi’s latest illustrated title is called Ladder to the Moon (Candlewick, April 2011), written by Maya Soetoro-Ng (who, you will see at this link, is the maternal half-sister of President Obama, and who seems to be making talk show rounds this week to discuss this picture book — or so I’ve noticed when I’ve hit social media sites, though I’ve been too busy this week to watch any of the footage).

Maya’s story, inspired by her daughter’s questions about her late grandmother, opens with a young girl asking questions about her maternal grandmother: “What was Grandma Annie like?” to which the girl’s mother replies, “She was like the moon…Full, soft, and curious. Your grandma would wrap her arms around the whole world if she could.” Read the rest of this entry �

So, here’s the deal on this early Monday morning at Camp 7-Imp, dear readers. I can say with a moderate amount of confidence that it almost doesn’t matter what I post here at 7-Imp for the rest of 2011, that this will quite likely be my favorite post. No, really. The Great One himself, Sendak, could stop by, and I might actually be all, well, there was that great Jonathan post with Philip C. Stead. (Allright, since it’s Sendak—hypothetically here—the posts may tie for Best 2011 Visits, but you get the idea.)

And here’s why: First of all, I love this new picture book from Stead. More on that in a minute. But also, I love that Phil took the time to compose this post, to share images of not only his illustrations, but his process, the steps it takes to get from point A to point B. Perhaps it’s expressly because I’m not an illustrator that I find that so fascinating, but I do. His wife, Erin—also an illustrator and 2011 Caldecott medalist for A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which Phil penned—did the same back in ’09 when I first saw her work (and knew it screamed SPECIALNESS). She actually visited twice to talk about Amos McGee, but it was this July ’09 post, in which she shared her printmaking process for the book (before it was even out), that I so enjoyed. I appreciate that both of them slow down (I emphasize this, seeing as how we live in a 140-character, hyper-hypo, shortened-attention-span world anymore) and take the time to share in such a detailed manner how they create their magic. (They humbly do not call it “magic,” to be clear, but I can. And do.)

Really, I give long interviews to some illustrators who don’t get as detailed as Phil does below, after I simply said, tell me about making this book. (And why exactly have I not had a breakfast interview with him or Erin? I’ll have to fix that one day.) And Phil gets detailed in the way I like — succinctly-worded and letting the art do most of the talking. As it should be. Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, 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.

Since I like to highlight student or brand-new illustrators to the field on the first Sunday of each month, that was my plan for last week, but I was out of town and shifted things around. Instead, I welcome a student illustrator this week, and her name is Rozalind Best. Pictured above is her rendering of Captain Hook’s ship. Roz is set to graduate soon from The University of Plymouth in the UK, and here she is tell us all a bit more: Read the rest of this entry �

My Kirkus column for this week, which is at this link this morning, is all about the chapter book series Anna Hibiscus, published by Kane Miller Books. There are four titles thus far in the series, the latter two having been released just last month, and it wasn’t till these last two were released that I discovered the series as a whole. And I have to say: I can’t yawp about them loudly enough. They are entirely, without skipping a beat, enchanting. So, head on over there this morning if you’d like to read more about them. Next week, I’ll have some interior art from the series to share with you (as they are illustrated chapter books).

And, speaking of illustrations to share, at last week’s column I shared 3.1 new children’s poetry titles. (The “.1” is all on account of how I only have 600-800 words to express myself over there, which I think is, ultimately, a good thing for me to learn. Economy of expression, that is.) This was all in celebration of the launch of National Poetry Month. If you’d like to read that column (and weigh in with any recommended poetry titles), it’s here. As promised, here are some illustrations from each of those titles (the one opening this post is from Bob Raczka’s Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word, illustrated by Nancy Doniger, but more on that below), as a discussion of them without a sneak-peek at the art is downright TRAGICAL.

First up, Julie Paschkis’s illustrations (without the text) for Monica Brown’s stirring picture book biography, Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People (Henry Holt, March 2011). Sweet heavenly Chilean poets, I love me some Julie Paschkis art (as evidenced by the number of times she appears on this page of 7-Imp):

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Won’t you join me in welcoming to 7-Imp this morning scratchboard illustrator Sonia Lynn Sadler? Sonia is the recipient of the 2011 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent (Illustrator) Award for her illustrations in Jen Cullerton Johnson’s Seeds of Change, featured here at 7-Imp last August. Kirkus, in describing this book as “{v}ibrant and accomplished,” praised Sadler’s ability to so joyfully celebrate the community spirit that the book’s subject—2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist—brought to those with whom she worked.

Sonia is visiting for breakfast this morning—“a home-made veggie omelet with gouda and a cup of hot tea with lemon” is her meal-of-choice—-to tell me what she’s working on now and to share some art from Seeds of Change, as well as her previous titles. I’m pleased to have her here, and I hope you enjoy all the bright art she’s sharing today. She opts for tea, not coffee, but I dare say I don’t need coffee to wake me up, what with her beautiful images here this morning. Let’s get right to it (mostly ’cause I really want to talk to her, but also ’cause SHE IS BRINGING GOUDA), and I thank her for stopping by. Read the rest of this entry �

Here is illustrator Katherine Tillotson, getting ready to make some art. Her most recent illustrated title, written by poet, novelist, and teacher George Ella Lyon, involved paste paper, and so to the stove Katherine headed. I failed to ask Katherine (I blame not-enough-coffee that day) what it was like to read Lyon’s text for the first time and how exciting it must have been to be the illustrator assigned to it. I like Lyon’s work; she had me at this title (for grown-ups) from 1997, and she’s penned many picture books, including last year’s Schneider Family Book Award winner, The Pirate of Kindergarten, illustrated by Lynne Avril.

Described by Publishers Weekly as a “lyrical and bighearted outpouring,” this new title—All the Water in the World, released in March from Atheneum—takes a look at where water comes from and how vital it is, taking a pit stop in “far away / …a different day,” a place with dry grasses, dirt, and dust, a place waiting for “an open gate / in a wall of clouds / for rain sweet and loud / to fill the well / and start the stream.” In fact, it’s the vigorous spread opening this post that follows those two parched, brown spreads. If that doesn’t wake you up impossibly before breakfast, I don’t know what will.

With warmth and a bit of a drawl (a “honey” here and a “honey” there, directly addressed at the reader, ’cause, hey, Lyon is from Kentucky), readers not only learn about the water cycle, but are also reminded not to waste it: “Keep it clear, keep it clean…” Booklist writes in their starred review, “Lots of picture books introduce young children to the water cycle, but few have such an infectious beat and eye-catching illustrations as this title, which begs to be read aloud,” adding that Tillotson’s “beautifully composed, atmospheric digital illustrations” have a kinetic energy about them.

Booklist also noted that Tillotson’s spreads in this book have the “richly patterned and textured look of paint-and-paper collage.” That would be because, as Katherine shows me below, she started out with collage. Here she is for a brief visit to share a bit more about how she rendered these illustrations. I thank her for stopping by. Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, 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.

As I type this, I’m getting ready to head to Knoxville, Tennessee, for this wonderful conference, so I’m going to keep things short and simple (ahem, short for me, that is) this week. I’ve got things to pack and CDs to pile up in my car for my road trip. (Have bluegrass, can travel.) However, I do hope folks will leave their kicks, as I’ll be back and reading them by Sunday.

Now, normally the first Sunday of each month, I share the work of a student or brand-spankin’-new-to-the-field illustrator, but I’m going to shake things up and do that next week instead. I didn’t want to slight a shiny new illustrator today, since I’m mostly on my way out the door. Instead, I’m pleased to be showing you spreads this morning from Yukiko Kato’s In the Meadow, illustrated by Komako Sakai. I’m a fan of Sakai’s work. I know I’ve not seen everything she’s done and want to correct that. I love Emily’s Balloon (2006) and The Snow Day (2009), though I haven’t seen this one yet (2010). Evidently, she’s super popular in Japan (her home), and I’m happy some of her titles have made it here to the States. Read the rest of this entry �