Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“Having international children’s books by authors and illustrators from different cultures and countries helps boost the energy of young readers, since it’s exciting to get to learn amazing new stories from all over the world.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk with illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh, whose newest picture book, Saffron Ice Cream, is one she also wrote, her first book in English as an author-illustrator. She also talks about illustrating a new board book about Ramadan, written by Hannah Eliot.

The Q&A is here. Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with a bit more art from each book.

Until tomorrow . . .

 
It’s the first Sunday of the month, dear Imps, which means we look at the art of a student or debut illustrator. Today it’s the latter. Shanda McCloskey’s debut picture book, Doll-E 1.0 (Little, Brown, May 2018), is on shelves now. It’s the story of tech-savvy Charlotte, whose parents (worried she may be “too techy”) give her a doll for her birthday. (“I was thinking you could play house or doctor with it,” her mother tells her.) “How do you use it? Are there instructions?” Charlotte asks. She’s dismayed that the doll just sits there. Charlotte is itchin’ to build something new. Needless to say, Charlotte is pumped when she discovers that the doll (who says “Ma-ma” repeatedly) has a set of two batteries — a power supply!

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“They eat their bedtime snacks and do crossword puzzles. ‘Time for bed, off you go!’
says Bo. ‘I DON’T WANT TO!’ says Koko. ‘Stay here then,’ says Bo.”
(Click to enlarge and see spread in its entirety)

 
Today at Kirkus, I’ve got mamas on the mind.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about a Swedish picture book import, Lisen Adbåge’s Koko and Bo (Enchanted Lion, April 2018).

I’m following up with some art from the book today.

Enjoy!

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“… I wanted to know every part of this garden. I reached down to feel the ground.
The earth was damp and cool. It felt like it was giving me something I couldn’t see.
‘How did you create this, Miss Tillie?’ I wanted to know.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Last week at Kirkus, I talked to author-illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera about her new picture book, My Hair Is a Garden (Albert Whitman, April 2018). That is here.

I’m following up today with a bit of art from the book. Below are the images from the book’s endpapers.

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Over at BookPage, Eric and Terry Fan, who co-illustrate as the Fan Brothers, talk about their new book, Ocean Meets Sky; the Sendak Fellowship; their Taiwanese grandfather and the tradition of oral storytelling; and more.

Click here (or on the image above) to head over there.

From “The House of Stairs”: “Ms. Danko loves to climb.
She’s built herself a house of stairs that looks just like her in every way.”
(Click to enlarge and read full text)

 
Today, I’ve a book written and illustrated by artist Koki Oguma (and translated by Gita Wolf), a set of genuinely quirky stories in which the author-illustrator wanders around his Tokyo neighborhood and tells readers tales about the residents. The Barber’s Dilemma: And Other Stories from Manmaru Street (Tara Books, May 2018) all kicks off with “The Artist and his Cat,” where Koki introduces himself:

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“Teddy!”

 
Today over at Kirkus, I’ve got a Swedish picture book import.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about a Belgian import, Sarah V. and Claude K. Dubois’s The Old Man (Gecko Press, March 2018).

I’m following up with art from the book today. Read the rest of this entry �

“Truth be told, I’ve always been a secret writer. That’s the thing about writing. You can write on for a long time and tuck it all away with only your significant other in the know, because there are bins upon bins of paper that travel with you on every major move, that sit in the dark basement, that don’t pay rent in storage.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk with illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera, pictured here, whose newest picture book is one she also wrote, her first book as an author-illustrator. My Hair Is a Garden is on shelves now.

The Q&A is here. Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with a bit more art from the book.

Until tomorrow . . .

 
I’m hosting a party for The Party today. That is, author-illustrator Sergio Ruzzier visits to talk a bit about his new picture book, a collection of three stories called Fox + Chick: The Party: And Other Stories (Chronicle, April 2018). He also shares some preliminary images and artwork from the book.

As you will read below, this is a series of three stories about two endearing characters, Fox and Chick, with the promise of a second book to come next year. As you will also read below, Sergio returns to comics for the book’s format, and the results are wonderful. This is a set of stories that follows in the grand tradition of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad stories or James Marshall’s George and Martha stories. Only the comics format differs. You know you have in hand a book that will strike a chord with developing readers, much as Lobel’s and Marshall’s books did, when the personalities of the book’s duo are so clearly established on the first page of the first story in merely four small panels. (Chick is fussy and somewhat mercurial; Fox is centered and possesses an everlasting patience for his small friend.)

I’m going to move over now and give Sergio the 7-Imp mic, because you will learn more about the three stories within the book from his words and art below. I thank him for sharing. Read the rest of this entry �

Illustrations from title page spread
(Click to enlarge)

 
I’m doing that thing again (forgive me) where I’m writing about a book several months before it arrives on bookshelves, but I’ve had this art for a while and decided to go ahead and share it today. (See how I waited at least a little bit?) Karen Hesse’s Night Job (Candlewick), illustrated by G. Brian Karas, will be on shelves in September — and it is a book to look forward to.

This is the story of a boy and his father, who leave their apartment complex and take a motorcycle on a Friday night to the school that the father cleans for a living. “He opens the door, and the building sighs,” Hesse writes. “Come, it whispers to us.” While sometimes the boy plays (shooting hoops while his father cleans the gym or reading aloud to him while he cleans the library), he also gives him a hand, “sweeping the school from stem to stern.” Hesse captures one night of the father’s custodial work; afterwards, they head home and, just as the sun is rising, drift away together in a recliner. Read the rest of this entry �