Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 

Over at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott today, I write about Jerry Pinkney’s The Three Billy Goats Gruff. And I declare my love for that creepy troll.

That is here.

Until tomorrow …

“… Mama Africa helps the refugees — young men and women, even children.
She gives them food, clothes, and song. When her song becomes too loud for some,
they say she is not a singer but a politician. ‘I am no politician,’ she says.
‘I just see what I think is wrong and what is right.'”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
At Kirkus last week, I chatted here with artist Charly Palmer about his illustrations for Kathryn Erskine’s Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2017).

Today, I’m following up with some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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“I love going to the park and looking at flowers with you.”
(Click to enlarge)

 
The first Sunday of every month (Happy October!) at 7-Imp is for student or debut illustrators, and I’ve got the latter today. Days with Dad, written and illustrated by Nari Hong, will be on shelves in mid-October (Enchanted Lion Books), and this is Hong’s first picture book. It is also, as noted in Hong’s bio on the book’s jacket flap, an autobiographical book.

The book relates some of Hong’s own childhood experiences with her father. Told from her point of view, the book opens with an introduction to her father. “Dad can’t walk,” she tells us. “He hasn’t been able to since he was a baby.” Here, we see a well-dressed man (I love how the endpapers consist of the lapels on the jacket her father wears) in a wheelchair.

The little girl explains how her father often apologizes for his inability to walk. He’s sorry he can’t ride bikes with her — or skate, swim, play soccer, etc. But for each apology he makes, she takes the opportunity to point out what she loves about being with him. They can’t ride bikes, but she loves to look at flowers in the park with him. They can’t ice-skate, but “ice-fishing together is much more fun!” she says. “So what?” is essentially her half-glass-full response to her father. It’s not even as if she has to work at seeing the rosier side of things. It’s as if his inability to walk or run does not at all factor into her enjoyment with him. Who needs puddle-splashing on a cool, rainy day? If your father can stay inside with you and have “rainy day cocoa,” well … that’s even better. Read the rest of this entry �

Early sketch and final art: “‘Last I checked, you can’t eat the blues for breakfast,’
said Grandma Della. ‘No child of mine is gonna waste his time with music.’
But Muddy was never good at doing what he was told.”
(Click each to enlarge)

 

Today at Kirkus, we’re saying hi to some old friends.

That is here.

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If you like Michael Mahin’s Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters (Atheneum, September 2017), illustrated by Evan Turk, as much as I do (I wrote about it here last week), you may enjoy today’s post. Evan shares some of his process paintings, and your eyes will be happy. There are even more images in this post at Evan’s site, where he also talks about the reasons behind the newspaper collages in the book’s illustrations. Oh, and Evan mentioned this book in my 2016 interview with him and shared some images there as well.

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry �

“Art affords me the freedom to express what I love, and what I love is black people and the various aspects of black culture. Much of our youth are drastically underexposed to their history, and that saddens me. Continuing to take on black children’s book projects allows me to bring to life the stories of our people.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to illustrator, fine artist, and graphic designer Charly Palmer, pictured here, about his picture book debut, Kathryn Erskine’s Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2017). This book tells the story of Grammy Award-winning South African singer Miriam Makeba.

That Q&A is here.

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll follow up with some artwork from the book.

Until tomorrow …

“White wings, as delicate as paper,
and a body lighter than a cupcake …”
(Click to enlarge spread and see full text)

 
Here’s a quick post to show you a bit of art from a book, coming to shelves in early October, that will catch the eye of young readers. Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals comes from children’s book author and zoologist Nicola Davies. I always love to see what she’s up to, and this book, with illustrations from Petr Horáček, is a wonderful offering. As the title indicates, it’s a “first book” of animals, geared at young children — and great for browsing, over a hundred pages as it is.

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I think I mentioned here earlier that I’ve joined the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott team. This week, Lolly, one of the Calling Caldecott bloggers, wrote about Elisha Cooper’s Big Cat, Little Cat, released in March. I’ve also written about this book this year, and I’ve even got some art from it here. But I’m using today’s kicks post (mostly, I admit, because I’ve had a busy weekend and am not quite prepared to write about the book I had originally planned on writing about today) to point you to Lolly’s smart thoughts on this wonderful book. That is here.

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— From Kathryn Otoshi’s Draw the Line
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

— From Suzy Lee’s Lines
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Today over at Kirkus, I write about Michael Mahin’s Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters (Atheneum, September 2017), illustrated by Evan Turk.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Suzy Lee’s Lines (Chronicle, September 2017) and Kathryn Otoshi’s Draw the Line (Roaring Brook, October 2017). Here at 7-Imp today is some art from each book.

Enjoy …

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(Click to enlarge sketch)

 
Last week at Kirkus, I chatted here with author Patricia MacLachlan about several things, and one of those things was her newest picture book, Someone Like Me (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook Press, July 2017). Today, I’ve got some art from the book from illustrator Chris Sheban. He also includes some early sketches.

If you like what you see here, I’ll have more soon. I’ve had Chris’s responses for a 7-Imp “Seven Questions Over Breakfast” interview for an embarrassingly long time. It’s taken me longer than I like to get to that interview. The good news is: This is because it will have so much art in it. But the challenge is that those longer, art-filled interviews take longer to format. Anyway, I hope to have that up soon (and I thank Chris for his everlasting patience).

The final art you see here below from Someone Like Me is sans text.

Enjoy! And thanks to Chris for sharing.

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I’ve a post at Calling Caldecott today, which is all Henkes, all Egg.

That is here.