Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

School Library Journal has used words such as “inspired” and “powerful” to describe this book; Publishers Weekly called it “provocative,” adding that it “makes the invaluable point that history does not have to be remote or abstract, but a personal and ongoing engagement”; and both Kirkus Reviews and September’s Notes from the Horn Book have called it a “sumptuous” volume. What I’m talking about is Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out (published by Candlewick in September 2008), in which over one hundred contemporary writers and artists use everything from stories to poems to essays to personal accounts to presidential letters to speeches to comics to historical records and more to show us, as Gregory Maguire puts it in the opening entry, that “{t}here are as many views, looking in and out of the White House windows, as there are eyes to look.” At almost 250 pages, it was conceived and co-created by the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance, a not-for-profit literary organization founded in 1997 and composed of award-winning children’s authors and illustrators, and evidently was eight years in the making.

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It’s time for a quick Art Appreciation Moment:

I’ve already mentioned several times here at 7-Imp how much I love Cynthia Rylant’s new adaptation of Hansel and Gretel (Hyperion, September ’08), illustrated by Jen Corace (including here, when Jen stopped by one Sunday in July). Any book that opens thusly settles in and takes a cozy spot in the fairy-tale portion of my heart:

It has been said that guardian spirits watch over and protect small children, and that may be so. But there are also stories of children who find the courage to protect themselves.

Such is the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Or, as the publisher puts it in their product description, “…the witch, whose delicious house lured Hansel and his sister, Gretel, had forgotten two things about lost children: they can be very clever and very brave.” {Geeky emphasis is all mine.}

Recently, I was discussing how great this new adaptation is with a friend who had purchased a copy for his daughter, and I was all inspired again to see if Jen could share even more art from it. Lucky for me, she said yes. Here are a small handful of illustrations from the book:

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Author/illustrator and editorial illustrator Sergio Ruzzier is here for breakfast this morning, and I greet him with my best, though certainly Appalachian-twinged, “Ciao!” You can spot a Ruzzier-illustrated title from here to Milan, where he was born, and back again, what with his wry humor and the delicate pen-and-ink lines of his intimate, subdued watercolors. And talk about an illustrator extending the text of a picture book written by someone else: Anyone else remember Emily Jenkins’ Love You When You Whine from ’06? Back then, Esme Raji Codell aptly called it a “very subversive look at the parent-child exchange…The great charm of this book is that page after dastardly and unrelentingly recognizable page, for all of the antics and subsequent parental pain so cheerfully and colorfully described and indicated, we have not a moment’s doubt that this mother is telling the truth.” Anyway, yes, back to Ruzzier’s extension of the text through his very whimsical watercolors: “Love you when you pour cereal on the floor” becomes the feline protagonist covering the floor with piles and piles of cereal; “Love you when you interrupt” becomes the cat yanking out the phone cord from the wall as her mother’s talking on it; and here’s what “Love you when you hit someone” became in Ruzzier’s world:

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Jules: Welcome to our 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 week we welcome illustrator Dan Santat, pictured here in first grade, just ’cause I freakin’ love that picture. Dan is—one day out of the year—Santa Claus, but he’s a children’s book writer and commercial illustrator on the other three-hundred-and-sixty-four days. And he fights crime on the side. That’s what he’ll tell you at his web site/blog (where you also learn that, in no time at all, he’ll have an addition to his family. Oh my, that’s an exciting time! We wish him and his family the best) . . . That swingin’ illustration which opens this post is a teaser: It’s from a forthcoming title Dan has illustrated, Chicken Dance (Sterling Publishing), written by Tammi Sauer and to be released next year.

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Look at this moment of loveliness above, brought to us by illustrator Kevin Hawkes. I am such a fan of his work, so I’m pleased to share a couple of illustrations from his most recent illustrated title, what Publishers Weekly calls a “cheeky yet informative biography,” The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum (Knopf Books for Young Readers, September ’08), written by the very talented author of a whole slew, to be precise, of award-winning biographies for children, Kathleen Krull. And, as someone who has a big honkin’ space in her heart devoted to the Oz characters (translated: as a child, I was obsessed with the books and film adaptation)—even though I’d agree with Trull in her Storyteller’s Note at the close of this book that “the quality of {Baum’s} books was uneven”—I love that stunning opening illustration, in particular. School Library Journal wrote about Hawkes’ work in this book, “Hawkes’s merry paintings of the author and his characters invoke the magic of Oz within the great author’s real-world setting.” Merry, indeed.

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I’m so pleased that British illustrator Mini Grey has stopped by for breakfast this morning here at 7-Imp. If you were to ask me who I thought some of the most inventive, imaginative illustrators working today were, why, Mini’s name would most assuredly come up. She’s a favorite of mine, delivering mixed-media visual treats at each turn, whether it’s the detailed world of the unstoppable Traction Man, what Publishers Weekly called the swashbucklin’ nursery-rhyme romance of The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, or the cookie carnage of Ginger Bear. Best of all, there is a slightly twisted humor to her work, which I love, a twinkle in the eye, a little bit of mischief, a refusal to talk down to children. She always intriques, and she always keeps you on your toes.

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Remember how “RIF” in my world really stands for “Random Illustrator Feature”? Well, I’m back with another RIF, this time with an illustrator who visited us once before. This week, I saw a copy of Laurel Snyder’s first picture book, Inside the Slidy Diner (Tricycle Press, October 2008), illustrated by Jaime Zollars. Jaime stopped by 7-Imp this past February to show us some of her beguiling art work but wasn’t able to share Slidy Diner art at that time, so she’s stopped by today to share some.

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If you’re a fan of Paul O. Zelinsky’s work, you’re in for a real treat today. Not only did he stop by 7-Imp for breakfast this morning, but he is also over at Just One More Book!! today, chatting with, arguably (or probably not arguably), the hardest working bloggers in the kidlitosphere, Andrea and Mark. Oh for heaven’s sake, do NOT NOT NOT miss that podcast, because Mark and Andrea always bring the goods. Plus some.

And what an honor that he stopped by to chat with us as well. I mean, I’m downright giddy. Over at his website bio, you will read that his first book appeared in 1978 (as well as the fact that, as a sophomore at Yale, he enrolled in a course on the history and practice of the picture book, co-taught by MAURICE SENDAK, whose name I am, yes, yelling, ’cause I find that very exciting), “since which time he has become recognized as one of the most inventive and critically successful artists in the field.” Isn’t that the truth, while also almost sounding like an understatement? How about what Publishers’ Weekly once wrote about him: “Zelinsky is that rare practitioner who can create sophisticated work that adults will marvel at, and that children will joyfully embrace.” Yes, throw in that fan love—adults and children alike—which he has garnered, and…well, you can understand why I’m giddy. He has illustrated or adapted-and-illustrated so many books that we at 7-Imp adore and love and adore some more — as well as lots of other librarians all over the world. Zelinsky has said before, “I’ve…decided that I should be recognized by my unrecognizability.” And some would argue he, indeed, does that well, that his illustrations integrate so well with the text of the book he’s bringing to life with his art, that his versatility is second-to-none. Or, as he once told the Horn Book, he tries to “make the book talk, as it talks to me, and not worry whether it is in my style or not…. I get a kick out of doing each book differently.”

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Two illustrator interviews in one week? you might be saying. (If you missed it, Elisha Cooper stopped by on Monday.) Well, why the hey not? You know, dear readers, that I love talking to artists and chatting with them about style and process and paintbrushes and influences and favorite words and inspirations and maybe some chalk here and collage there and oils way over there and so on and what-not. And you know I’m not going to ask them to stop by if I don’t have a particular fan-girl vibe goin’ on for what they do, and with today’s illustrator—Kelly Murphy—well, I love her work. The best thing? She always surprises. And I know Eisha’s a fan, too, so I boldly speak for her. So, yes, I’m so happy Kelly has stopped by for seven questions over breakfast, and how could I wait any longer to share her thoughts on what she does and find out—ooo! ooo!—what she’s up to next. (Hint: One future project involves Jane Yolen, so that makes it doubly exciting.)

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It’s my turn this month over at Guys Lit Wire. I’m over there today, weighing in on The Mighty 12: Superheroes of Greek Myth by Charles R. Smith, Jr. and illustrated by P. Craig Russell.

The Mighty 12 was released this past Spring by Little, Brown and Company and casts the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, as you can tell by the cover here, as not unlike the (usually) young, beautiful, scantily-clad superheroes of the comics, ripped bods and all. Over at the post this morning, I’ve got my thoughts on the book, a link to Kelly Fineman’s recent interview with Smith, and a link to the spot on his site in which you can hear him read some of the poems.

If you’re so inclined, here’s the link. So, go read — and discover the wisdom of a “well-placed eagle’s wing.”