Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I’ve said this before here at 7-Imp, and I’ll say it again today: I’m a big fan of Amy Schwartz’s picture books and the understated charm and humor of her stories and illustrations. I’ve occasionally told myself, Self: Why don’t you write a sort of Amy Schwartz Appreciation at the blog? But I guess I have discussed a few of her titles before here at 7-Imp, so we can consider my Ode to Amy a perpetual work-in-progress. I’ve also said before that I love the seeming simplicity of both her writing and illustrations, but there’s really a lot going on, including an undeniably strong child-centeredness that, in my experience, makes her books bonafide Kid Magnets. Amy can perfectly capture the details of a child’s world, what they truly care to pay attention to. (The book best exemplifying this would be the wonderful What James Likes Best from 2003.)

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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.

This is an oil pastel and ink painting from the sketchbook of illustrator Rob Dunlavey. I really like that. How about you?

Rob has done editorial illustrations of many kinds and is an aspiring children’s book illustrator. The art at his site drew my eye, and I asked him to stop by today and talk about his work a little and share some art. If you like what you see, don’t miss his site, which includes all kinds of sketchbook images and paintings and his educational, editorial, and advertising work. His children’s book illustrations are here.

Rob: I’ve done editorial illustration most of my career (since 1986). This is probably a throwback to youth and high school days, where I was inspired by political cartoons, comic books, Thomas Nast, and MAD Magazine. I started drawing in pen and ink and did a lot of work for school newspapers and even into college. The odd thing is that I detoured and got a BA and an MFA in Fine Art. I spent years learning printmaking, how to paint (more or less), and make sculpture. When I moved to Boston in 1985, I started developing an editorial portfolio and soon was doing work for The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor. Later on, I developed a more graphic style, using watercolor, and I started getting published in magazines. I got a computer in the late ’80s and started working digitally. Some of the digital work was for computer games and educational software. I also do a lot of digital editorial work, but the last few years have seen a slow-down for me in that market. Here are a few examples that have a whimsical quality. Usually they are about something kind of inscrutable or boring, about banking or fire sprinklers!

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I was going to post a poem for grown-ups today, but then Mac Barnett and Adam Rex had to up and make one of the funniest books I’ve seen all year and foiled my plans. (This is a book-in-verse, so voila: Poetry Friday post for this week.)

I contacted Adam in my ongoing attempt to check in with the Men of Children’s Lit Who Have Previously Visited 7-Imp and showcase what they’re up to now. (See Sean Qualls here and Lane Smith and David Ezra Stein here.) Adam is one of my top-five, y’all — as in, the We Can Thank Our Lucky Stars They’re Making Books for Children list. Like, der. Regular readers know this, as I often bug him to come stop by 7-Imp and share some art. But, ah well, I’m pointing this out for any new readers who may be out there. And Mac? Thank goodness he’s come along, too.

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How’d I do? I don’t speak Spanish, but that’s my seven-questions-over-breakfast welcome to author/illustrator Yuyi Morales, who is here this morning for a chat.

I’ve never been in the same room with Yuyi, but I have a feeling that, if I were, I’d be bowled over by her passion for what she does. This is what comes across in her work. Yuyi, who has been awarded the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award three times (2004, 2008, and 2009) and an Illustration Honor in 2004, has created one of contemporary children’s literature’s most unforgettable characters, Señor Calavera, the traditional Mexican skeleton character from the Day of the Dead celebrations and the star of her original trickster tales, Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (Chronicle Books, 2003) and last year’s Just In Case: a Trickster Tale and Alphabet (Roaring Brook Press). The latter was the 2009 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Winner, as well as an Author Honor Book, and featured motifs from Mexican culture for each letter of the Spanish alphabet. (Incidentally, to hear her talk about why she chose to bring that particular character to, well… life, you can watch and listen at the interview she gave to At Your Library at the bottom of this post.) The Belpré committee praised Yuyi’s “vibrant, shimmering jewel-tone colors.” That would pretty accurately describe all of Yuyi’s books so far. (Did you see Little Night in ’07? Gorgeous.) I mean to tell you that her art wakes me right up.

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There are lots and lots of best-of lists that are generated around this time of year in the world of books. My very favorite, not surprisingly, is the New York Times’ list of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the year. (Ten titles are chosen.) The 2009 list is out. Sometimes, as an Illustration Junkie, I like to take those lists and see how I fared over the year. Turns out that I’ve featured some art here at 7-Imp from exactly one-half of the chosen titles — or four, really, but was sitting on art from one of them (pictured above) to show you just this week. Hey, not too bad. Right? When’re they gonna hire me as a judge? (I JEST. I’m not that disillusioned.)

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This above is one of my favorite illustrations from 2009. (Later in this post, I’ve got the entire spread from which it comes, since you just have to see that, too.) On that bus is one of my favorite characters from 2009, too, the monster of Peter McCarty’s Jeremy Draws a Monster, released by Henry Holt in September. He’s pictured a bit closer up—BOO!—to the left here. Anyone else seen this title yet? I’ve been sitting on these illustrations for months now, hoping that McCarty would stop by for one of my illustrator-interviews, and holding the illustrations for that. But I’m thinking at this point that he’s maybe swamped — but can perhaps stop by one day later. I hope. I’m a fan, particularly of his Hondo and Fabian books, which are a big, big hit in the Danielson household.

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Two weeks ago, I decided to check in with some of the Men of Children’s Lit (or, in one case, his publisher) Who Have Previously Visited the Blog and see if they’d let me showcase some of the illustrations from their latest titles. (No slight to the women; it just started out with a couple of men, and then it kept building. Let’s check in with the women next, shall we?) I kicked it off with Lane Smith and David Ezra Stein. Today, Sean Qualls stops by again. He was here in April, one of my favorite 7-Imp interviews, I confess — not only because his art makes me happy, but because he sent tons of illustrations and sketches to share in that post. It’s right up there in the Dave-McKean category for Most Art Sent for a Post. This is a good thing in my book.

And that interview included sketches from the book I’m featuring today, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s Who Will I Be, Lord? If you like the cool (in more ways than one — check out his blue palette) spreads you see here, then head on over to that interview to see some of his early sketches for the book.

Nelson’s book, released in October from Random House, is about a young girl, looking ahead to her future, wondering what she’ll be, by looking back at her own family tree.

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This is undeniably backwards, but I’m here to talk a little bit today about a book I have yet to read. It’s called Only a Witch Can Fly (published by Feiwel & Friends in August), and it’s by the prolific and talented Alison McGhee. The illustrations were done by Taeeun Yoo, who has illustrated enough picture books to count on one hand, but whose work I very much like. Every time she illustrates a new title, I’m all over it. (I featured two spreads from Yoo’s The Little Red Fish way back in ’07, when 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks was but a wee babe. As I said then, that book is utterly captivating. And it has a CLOTH COVER, which for some reason makes me squealy.)

I’m eagerly awaiting my library copy of Only a Witch…. Crafted by McGhee as a sestina, it’s been met with rave reviews all around: “This sophisticated picture book is rich with imagination… More personal, quiet, and transcendent than most Halloween books…” from Booklist and “{t}he effortless quiet of McGhee’s words is beautifully matched by Yoo’s pictures — linoleum block prints done in rapturously moody greens and browns” from The New York Times, just to name two. (Plus, when Adrienne tells me a picture book is good, I know I’m gonna like it. And she very much likes this one.)

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I’ll be back next week with a continuation of this post, the Men of Children’s Lit and What They’re Up to Now (my unofficial title). Instead, I’m making a quick art-and-poetry stop today with some spreads from J. Patrick Lewis’ new title, Spot the Plot: A Riddle Book of Book Riddles, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger (Chronicle Books, August 2009). Lewis, on each page, is riddling us, quizzing children—and children’s lit aficionados—on children’s titles: “Her hair’s the stairs,” pictured above, is my favorite one. With answers listed in the back, you’ve got Charles Perrault’s Cinderella; Charlotte’s Web (“Do you know this spider, / this spiderweb writer?…”); Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (“Toy / boy / cries, / lies. / Nose / grows.”); and Doreen Cronin’s Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (“No bedding? No butter. / No blankets? No udder.”)… Plus much more. This is for delighting and challenging the bookworm children in your lives. Or riddle-lovers. (Hey, I live with a five-year-old, learning the art of knock-knock jokes and riddles. It’s painful sometimes. She’s even fond now of saying “Get it? DOUBLE GET IT?!” for jokes that are hardly jokes. Ah, it’s a challenge, this learning-of-wordplay. She’ll get there.)

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Dude. I have to say I’ve wanted to interview award-winning author/illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi for yeeeeears now. I like his books; I really like his art; and I like it pretty much whenever he speaks. (Really, have you explored yet the videos at his web site? Big fun.) So, I’m happy he’s made it by this morning for breakfast. He and his wife, Angela—who are pictured above (and whose glasses I covet somethin’ fierce)—have recently collaborated on a new series of titles for the wee’est of children, called Adventure of Meno. These books, which make me laugh (and whose series was launched this month by Simon & Schuster), are about none other than an elf. A toddler elf. A toddler SPACE elf. Whose best friend is a jellyfish. And who says things like “sunshine snack” for breakfast and “moo juice” for milk. (There’s even a “happy fun bowl” in Book Two, which brings to mind probably my VERY FAVORITE Saturday Night Live commercial parody EVER, but I seriously digress.)

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