Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I’ve a review over at the Horn Book of Kevin Henkes’s newest picture book, Sun Flower Lion (Greenwillow, September 2020) — dedicated, no less, to the great Barbara Bader. That review is here.

And here at 7-Imp today are some illustrations from the book.

Enjoy!

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Over at Calling Caldecott today, Jonathan Hunt and Elisa Gall return for their “what the hell/why the hell” series to ask: What the hell is didactic intent anyway?

The Caldecott criteria state the award is “not for didactic intent”—not to mention we librarians in library school are taught that message-driven books are not to be respected as quality literature—yet there have been a handful of books in recent years that are affirmations of identity (including racial identity) and self-worth and books with social justice messages and/or characters with minoritized identities. These books often get labelled as didactic by librarians, but Jonathan and Elisa ask: Who is getting centered (and not centered) in these conversations? Didactic for whom? “Our culture, media, and society” Jonathan writes, “constantly send me messages of affirmation and a reader who does not get these messages would have different reading needs than mine.”

Head here to join the conversation.

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Over at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott, I have the pleasure of writing about a handful of exceptionally good 2020 international picture books. Since Calling Caldecott is Caldecott-focused, we call them “Caldenotts” (a phrase coined by Thom Barthelmess). They are books from this year that are not eligible for the Caldecott Award, because they were originally published in another country or are illustrated by someone not living here in the U.S.

I love to follow picture book imports and was happy to write the post. It is here.

Let’s take a look at a picture book debut, shall we? Seou Lee is an author and animator, and thanks to Arthur Levine’s new imprint, Levine Querido, we get to see her try her hand at picture books. Bye, Penguin! (October, 2020), orginally published in Korea, is a (nearly) wordless adventure — a penguin’s inadvertent (but very thrilling) one.

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“It was a beautiful experience. I actually couldn’t make my way through the book on the first read, as it seemed unreal. … What’s truly remarkable about his work in the book is that he really understands the stutter on an emotional and aesthetic level. Emotionally, the artwork almost places the stutter in the background, like a low ambient noise, that hums throughout the book. The stutter is present, obviously, but it’s not the entirety of the child’s experience or identity. It’s hard to explain
how meaningful this is for me.” — Jordan Scott

Over at the Horn Book, I had the distinct pleasure of working with my fellow Calling Caldecott blogger, Martha V. Parravano, to compose some questions for author and poet Jordan Scott and illustrator Sydney Smith about their 2020 picture book, I Talk Like a River.

This exquisite book is one of my favorites this year. (I reviewed it here. And here at 7-Imp, Sydney shared lots of preliminary images from creating this book.)

Head here to read our five-questions chat with them.

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I’ve a review over at the Horn Book of Marie’s Ocean: Marie Tharp Maps the Mountains Under the Sea (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt, September 2020), written and illustrated by Josie James.

That review is here, and below are some illustrations from the book.

Enjoy!

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I don’t have illustrations for you today, dear Imps, as I normally do. But I want to take a moment to highlight a book that will be on shelves next week — This Is Your Time (Random House), written by civil rights activist and icon Ruby Bridges.

This is a short (64 pages) and small but powerful book. Ruby Bridges, as you know if you know your American history, was the first Black student—at the age of six—to desegregate an all-white elementary school. We’ve all seen the images of Ruby being escorted by four federal marshals on her first day at William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. Ruby was the subject of the Norman Rockwell painting on this book’s cover.

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“Clouds and treetops are their homes, / airy houses all their own.
Could a friend be waiting for me? / Too hoo, too hoo. / Coo coo, coo coo.”
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I’ve a review over at the Horn Book of Chris Raschka’s beautiful In the City (Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, September 2020).

That is here.

Below are some more spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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Today, I have the pleasure of writing about Kate Messner’s The Next President, illustrated by Adam Rex, over at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott.

That is here.

As a reminder, I shared some illustrations from this book—and Adam shared some early sketches—back here in February.

 
Today, author-illustrator Sarah Williamson visits to talk about creating Elevator Bird (Knopf), which will be on shelves in late November. I’ll let her tell you about the story below.

Sarah’s brightly colored illustrations are filled with the kinds of little offbeat details that make this a book that children will pore over. And fans of the Eloise books may be especially delighted, given the book’s posh hotel setting. Sarah shares some spreads below, as well as some early sketches from the book.

Let’s get to it, and I thank her for sharing.

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