Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

*{Note: Visit Chicken Spaghetti for this week’s Poetry Friday round-up} . . .

For this Poetry Friday, I’ll briefly mention three new children’s poetry anthologies that are out, but I want to begin with Tony DiTerlizzi’s handsome new picture book, G is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book, written in rhyming text as a tribute to the nonsensical rhymes of Dr. Seuss and Edward Lear. We meet DiTerlizzi’s alter ego, Tiny DiTerlooney, our young author/illustrator of this book, who tells us to “{s}ay goodbye to boring books/ where ‘bears can bounce a ball’/ and turn the page/ I’ve set the stage/ and nothing makes sense at all,” as he creates his “masterpiece” of an alphabet book. Yes, this is for all of you who have read so many alphabet books that you find yourself immediately wondering what the author could possibly come up with for letters “X” and “Z,” assuming it will be “xylophone” and “zebra” or “zoo.”

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I am trying to do better about reading children’s lit in certain age ranges; I usually go to town on my picture books and YA titles, the two ends of the continuum. But — for whatever reason — I don’t read as many beginning readers and chapter books, in particular. So, I’ve been doing some reading lately in each age category (I don’t think I missed any, though — technically — board books aren’t represented here) and figured I’d do a post featuring one title for each one (my YA category, though, features two stellar titles I just finished). So, let’s get to it — children’s literature across the board, from picture books to the two best YA titles I’ve read this year.

Here’s a little gem for you: Hippo! No, Rhino by Jeff Newman, nominated for a Cybil Award in the Fiction Picture Books category. This is a sly, clever, hip, little slip of a book; it’s mostly wordless; and it’s got the look of a picture book that might have been the shizizzle when I was a toddler (in the ’80s — okay, um, the ’70s). Enter the zoo with a baffled zookeeper who doesn’t quite know his animals (and looks not unlike Cheech or Chong) Read the rest of this entry �

Hey, remember when Wired asked all those authors to come up with six-word stories?  (I heard about it through Fuse #8.)  Well, the other day I stumbled across a blog called Fussy, totally by accident.  And this blog’s author does five-word book reviews.  A-ha, I thought.  Brilliant!  That is something I can do, even with another paper due.  And it’s a great way to tell you speedy-quick about some of the new picture books I just got in at work last week.  But, this being 7ITBB, I have to give it a Seven-Impossible-style twist.  So, I bring you (drumroll, please):

The Seven Word Book Review! ™

Black? White! Day? Night! by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. 

Giant lift-the-flap* design makes familiar concept cool.

* Compound words joined with hyphens still only count as one word.  ‘Cause I said so.

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{I must quickly note — though unrelated to literature and related only to our site’s format — that we are finally ad-free! Woo hoo! Thanks, Blaine!} . . .

Get me. I recently admitted that I don’t read enough non-fiction, but here is a post about a couple more noteworthy non-fiction picture book titles I’ve experienced. Three in one week. Don’t pass out on me. (And I think I’ll throw in a few more in the way of poetry — technically, non-fiction, too, though I usually don’t have a problem getting my poetry).

This title you see on the left here is not only a good book, but the author, Patsi B. Trollinger, grew up in Tennessee (I was even told she’s a native of Sullivan County, not terribly far from where Eisha and I both used to live, in gorgeous East Tennessee). Trollinger’s Perfect Timing: How Isaac Murphy Became One of the World’s Greatest Jockeys — published in September of this year — became a reality after her interest was piqued when she saw a brief, six-line story about him in a local newspaper (she now lives in Kentucky), according to her web site.

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Mwahahahahaha. Eisha says I’m a Temptress/Bad Influence. She has a paper due very soon, but I convinced her to co-post with me on some of our favorite picture books of the year. What are friends for, if not to help you procrastinate?

In the many years we’ve been friends, there have actually been some books upon which Eisha and I have not agreed; in other words, she’s recommended one to me that I didn’t care for, and vice versa. But it doesn’t happen often. We have quite similar taste in books. So, it’s not a surprise to me that our favorite-picture-books-of-the-year-thus-far lists are similar. We’re going to say a bit about each one here. And I’d like to add that we are not superhuman librarians (well, I’ll speak for myself; Eisha did meet Jarrett J. Krosockza and told him he rocks!) who have read each and every picture book published in ’06, and the Paradigm of All Picture Books could be published right as we’re ringin’ in the new year, for all we know. But, for what it’s worth, we are huge picture book fans and pretty much read them like there’s no tomorrow.

Wolves by Emily Gravett —

Jules: Some wonderful things have been said about this book (published in ’05 but not until ’06 here in the U.S.) on some wonderful blogs that we often frequent Read the rest of this entry �

This is supposed to be a Part Two of sorts to my most recent picture book post, but let’s just drop that whole parts-of-a-whole concept. I’ve got a huge stack of picture books to read — which makes me happier than the pre-born-again Eddy Tulane in front of a mirror. Some have been nominated for the Cybil Awards, and some have not. Let’s just get right to it, and if you enjoy picture book posts, then you’re in luck, ’cause I’ve got a lot more to talk about in the near future.

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes — If, by chance, you have been reading some particularly uninspired books lately, well then here’s a sight for sore eyes. This book is just gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. And if you’re a library-lover, then be prepared to swoon. And when it comes to those books with memorable first lines, add this one to the list: “One day, a lion came to the library.” Read the rest of this entry �

I don’t read enough non-fiction. There. I admitted it. I’m trying to rectify it, having received the requisite lecture after lecture in graduate school about its importance. And now I’m here to say I’ve read a great non-fiction title in the realm of children’s lit — Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Neal Layton. Is this, technically, a picture book? I don’t know (it’s well over the standard 32-pages), but I don’t care. Where ever it gets categorized, it’s one rockin’ piece of non-fiction.

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We’ve already mentioned the two best new scary (and funny and clever) books to creep out your favorite kid today, but I’m doing a quick All Hallow’s Eve shout-out for another great spooky, creepy, scary book — The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. Published in ’03, it features another of Gaiman’s daring and defiant female protagonists, Lucy, who is just sure there are wolves in the walls. And, as everyone knows, if the wolves come out of the walls, it’s all over — or so Lucy is told, but she’s brave enough to battle them. McKean even got a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year award (2003) for this one. And well-deserved it was, as he seems at the top of his game with this visual romp. As School Library Journal described it, McKean used “painted people; scratchy ink-lined wolves; and photographed, computer-manipulated images” with four panels on some pages, giving it a nice graphic novel feel. And, yes, it’s hair-raising and shuddersome, as a good scary book should be, but it’s hysterical, too. So, pick this one up today in the spirit of getting creeped out. Oh, and there is a staged production of the book (“for everyone over 7 who is not a scaredy cat”) that will arrive in the U.S. in early 2008. Check out this creepy ad for it (information about the production and the links come from Fuse #8’s ever-informative site). Woo hoo! Though I doubt it’ll come to Nashville (wah wah), maybe Eisha can catch it for me in the Northeast.

Happy Halloween!

Hey. Jules here. I’m back. Let’s talk some great, new picture books I have here in my hands, shall we?

Before we get to these wonderful ’06 titles, allow me to also enthusiastically encourage nominations for the Cybil Awards. As Eisha mentioned in the recent Poetry Friday post, we are both involved, separately, on nomination committees for the fledgling and fabulous new Cybil Awards. I am honored to be on the Picture Book nominating committee; I just got online to visit my local library and max’ed out the number of items I can have on hold — picture books, picture books, and more picture books so that when you — yes, you! — go here to nominate the one high-quality picture book you think is the most outstanding (for good reasons) this year, I will be all prepared and will have, likely, read it (I’m keeping my eye on the nominations, of course) or at least know where to get my hands on it. As someone else commented on the Cybils site, this is a great way to create a reading list. And I’m diggin’ it (though I’m all sturm-und-drang about which book to nominate myself — Waiting for Gregory? Mommy?? The Sound of Colors? It’s so hard to pick just one, but the exercise is good for the ‘ol mental juices).

Okay, on to these lovely new picture book titles: Read the rest of this entry �

The two of us again . . . Here’s Part III, the finale, to our new-picture-books post (as in, those done by authors/illustrators whose names you’ll, most likely, recognize). Don’t forget the new book from the king of all wild things . . . er, I mean the king of all author/illustrators, Maurice Sendak. That is covered in another recent post. As for the following titles, they’re all ones not to miss and created by authors and illustrators whose collective talent is enough to knock your collective socks off.

Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root and illustrated by Randy Cecil — Phyllis Root is one of my favorite children’s book authors (Jules talkin’ here); she possesses such staggering talent that I don’t know how she can keep from falling over when standing. In this new title, she showcases her gifted talents for wordplay, and she writes with a rollicking rhythm that flows right off the tongue: “We scrape through the bushes scritch scratch! scritch scratch! the brambly-ambly, bunchy-scrunchy, scrubby-shrubby bushes.” Read the rest of this entry �