Archive for the 'Picture Books' Category

Ali Bahrampour’s Monsters in the Fog

h1 Thursday, June 16th, 2022



 
One of my very favorite picture books this year is Ali Bahrampour’s Monsters in the Fog (Abrams, June 2022), which I reviewed for BookPage. To read more about this very funny book, you can read the review here. (Pictured above is the entertaining title page illustration.)

Today, I’ve got some spreads from the book, and Ali also visits to share some early sketches. Lucky me — because I always like to see an artist’s early sketches — Ali managed to find these, adding that he throws almost everything away as he works. Here’s what he says about the book:

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Pip and Zip

h1 Tuesday, June 14th, 2022



 
I love to see those well-crafted picture books that address, in one way or another, the COVID-19 pandemic — the ones that are a snapshot of these unsettling times. Elana K. Arnold’s Pip and Zip (Roaring Brook Press, August 2022), illustrated by Doug Salati, is a new one that, in particular, captures the beginning of it all when the whole world seemed to shut down.

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7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #798: Featuring Red Nose Studio

h1 Sunday, June 12th, 2022


(Click spread to enlarge)


 
If anyone is going to add to the large stack of picture books about construction equipment, I’m glad it’s Red Nose Studio. Chris Sickels is the artist behind it all (here’s my 2013 interview with him). He creates sculptural and 3D illustrations, and for Build! (Anne Schwartz Books, May 2022), he created “hand-built sculptures made from scraps of wood and found objects, mixed in with some wire, clay, paint, fabric, and a shovel full of imagination.”

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The Queen in the Cave: “The wonders were infinite.”

h1 Thursday, June 9th, 2022



 
The U.S. edition of Júlia Sardà’s The Queen in the Cave (Candlewick) was released last month (it was first published in the UK last year), but I read it months before that. (I ended up with an early review copy.) And it’s been on my mind all that time. This, what the publisher calls a modern fairy tale, is Sardà’s debut as both author and illustrator. And it’s mesmerizing.

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See You Someday Soon

h1 Tuesday, June 7th, 2022


It can be challenging to write about a picture book with die-cuts. Ideally, you manage to find a copy of the book to experience the book design for yourself — and let the die-cuts and page-turns surprise you in the ways they are meant to. I do hope you can find a copy of Pat Zietlow Miller’s See You Someday Soon (Roaring Brook, June 2022), illustrated by Suzy Lee (winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustrating!). It is a playful and bighearted intergenerational tale that bursts right out of the gates with color, shape, and movement.

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7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #797: Featuring Ellen Heck

h1 Sunday, June 5th, 2022


(Click image to see spread in its entirety)


 
There’s no shortage of alphabet picture books, but be sure to make way for the distinctive and dynamic A is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation (Levine Querido, June 2022) from Ellen Heck. It’s a book that (per the author’s bio) was inspired by Heck reading Lithuanian alphabet books to her son.

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The Horn Book‘s Chat with Kevin Young

h1 Thursday, June 2nd, 2022



 

Kevin Young’s Emile and the Field, illustrated by Chioma Ebinama, is the 2022 picture book I’ve been pushing on everyone who can stand to listen to me, because I love it so. Thanks to the Horn Book for letting me be a small part of a Q&A with Kevin. That chat is here.

(And here is a link to my March 7-Imp post with some spreads from the book along with a link to my Horn Book review of it.)

Some Bones Before Breakfast

h1 Wednesday, June 1st, 2022


(Click spread to enlarge)


 
Whose Bones Are Those? (Candlewick Studio, June 2022) is an Australian import, originally published in 2020, from cut paper artist Chihiro Takeuchi. And it’s an unusual and delightful sort of matching game for young readers. Here are two spreads to show you what I mean. …

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I’m Not Small: A Chat with Nina Crews

h1 Tuesday, May 24th, 2022


“I am not small! My dog is small.
See how tall I am when I stand on my toes?”

(Click spread to enlarge)


 
It’s a pleasure to welcome author-illustrator Nina Crews to 7-Imp today. She and I talk about her new picture book, released this month — I’m Not Small (Greenwillow) — and how she momentarily put down her camera to work in a new style. I’m Not Small is an empowering tale about a child exploring how all things in nature are relative. Stepping into the yard — “Sunshine! Daytime! Time to play outside.” — the young child experiences the thrill of doing so independently: “You’re a big kid now,” says mother. The child feels small next to the big tree but tall next to the dog, as pictured above. “I am big!” the child declares triumphantly after exploring creatures in the yard.

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7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #795: Featuring Wanda Gág

h1 Sunday, May 22nd, 2022


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The great and groundbreaking picture book artist Wanda Gág published The ABC Bunny in 1933, and it went on to win a Newbery Honor the following year. It’s an alphabet book, and it includes hand-lettering by Gág’s brother. Also, music for the text (“ABC Song”) is included in the back of the book in the form of a score. This was composed by Gág’s sister. Clearly, it was a family affair.

Last month, the University of Minnesota Press — Gág was a Minnesotan from an immigrant family — released a board book edition of the book. Though many picture books don’t translate well to board book form, I think this one works.

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