Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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Here’s a post in honor of an upcoming begining reader that makes me laugh — David LaRochelle’s See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog (Candlewick), illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka. Coming to shelves in September, it’s an entertaining set of stories for new readers.

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I’m pleased today to share some spreads from Deborah Hopkinson’s Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterlies (Chronicle, August 2020), illustrated by Meilo So. It’s an empowering story about children working together as grassroots activists, and it’s a smart pairing of text and illustration.

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I’m pleased today to welcome illustrator Kristy Caldwell to 7-Imp as part of a blog tour for Deborah Hopkinson’s Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights (Peachtree, August 2020). Hopkinson frames this biography of the groundbreaking workers-rights advocate, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor (the first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet) for twelve years, with “math questions” for the young readers at whom the book is aimed: “How many yeras will it be until you turn sixty two?” and “What year will that be?” You’ll want to thank Frances Perkins, Hopkinson writes, when you get to that age.

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I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Phoebe Wahl’s neweest picture book, The Blue House (Knopf, August 2020). That review is here.

Because this is one of my favorite 2020 picture books, I asked Phoebe if she wanted to talk a bit about the book. (I just noticed that three out of my five questions to her below begin with “I love how ….”) There are a few spreads from the book below, and Phoebe also shares some sketches and in-studio images. I thank her for visiting!

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“… play with my children …”
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I don’t want to say too much about today’s book, a German import written and illustrated by Jutta Bauer. And that’s because Selma (Gecko Press), coming to shelves next month, is a slim, small book, and I don’t want to steal from you the wonders of reading it for the first time. And it’s a small book that asks a big question: What is happiness?

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I’ve a review over at BookPage of Amy Schwartz’s 13 Stories About Harris (Holiday House, August 2020). That review is here. So entertaining, this one.

Here today at 7-Imp are a few spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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A spread from Kwame Alexander’s award-winning The Undefeated,
illustrated by Kadir Nelson: “… who shine / their light for the world to see
and don’t stop / ’til the break of dawn.”
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Here’s something a bit different today: I’m pleased to welcome a guest post from Dean Schneider, who teaches English and history at Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. In his 45-year teaching career, Dean has taught in a variety of schools; served on several book award committees, including the Newbery and Caldecott; and written for several magazines.

Dean is a friend, and during a recent (socially-distanced, of course) visit, he told me about the books he has planned for a history course he’ll teach this school year. I am always interested in hearing Dean talk about his work—he’s an outstanding teacher, and his students are lucky to have him—but I was especially intrigued by what he had to say about teaching during a pandemic and how he wants books to remain in the forefront. As a school librarian by training, I often seek the thoughts of talented teachers like Dean. (For instance, see this recent piece from Donalyn Miller on the importance of continuing to read aloud to students during these uncertain, unsettled times of returning to school during a pandemic.) And when Dean agreed to let me host his thoughts here at 7-Imp, I was delighted.

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“My message is very simple: Economic growth and progress must add to
human happiness, not take away from it.”
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Today, dear Imps, I have an unusual picture book import for you. The World’s Poorest President Speaks Out was originally published in Japan in 2014 and will be on American shelves in mid-August, thanks to Enchanted Lion Books. Translated by Andrew Wong, edited (in the original Japanese edition) by Yoshimi Kusaba, and illustrated by Gaku Nakagawa, it is a picture book adaptation of Uruguay President José Mujica’s 2012 speech to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, during which he asked: “Can we really talk about the solidarity of humankind and kindness to each other, or even togetherness, when we are constantly competing to outdo each other?”

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I’ve some spreads today from Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker (Margaret K. McElderry Books, June 2020), written by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. This is a picture book biography of civil rights activist Ella Baker, who taught countless African Americans—but particularly those not in the elite or middle class—about their voting rights and how to exert their invididual voices in the name of freedom. And, as Powell writes in the book’s closing note, “because she worked behind the scenes and didn’t care about the spotlight, nor believed in following a charismatic figure or being followed, she is less known than she should be.”

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On shelves this month is the final book from author-illustrator Yumi Heo, who passed away in 2016. It’s called Sun and Moon Have a Tea Party (Schwartz & Wade Books), and it was illustrated by Naoko Stoop.

Over at BookPage is my review, as well as a Q&A I did with Naoko about this book, what it was like to illustrate Yumi’s final story, what she’s currently working on, and more. The review of this altogether charming book is here, and the Q&A is here.

Below are a couple of spreads from the book. Enjoy!

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