Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Nina Laden’s If I Had a Little Dream (Paula Wiseman Books, February 2017), illustrated by Melissa Castrillon. That is here, if you’d like to read all about the book.

This is a snug, gentle book, and it’s Castillon’s debut as an illustrator. Here are a couple more spreads.

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— From Deborah Freedman’s This House, Once

 


” … Look like a pearl / when you’re brim-full / and bright. /
Hang in the darkness. / Dazzle the night.”
— From Elaine Magliaro’s Things to Do,
illustrated by Cátia Chien
(Click to enlarge)

 


— From Kevin Henkes’ Egg
(Click to enlarge)

 

This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got mischief on the mind. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here at Kirkus about Elaine Magliaro’s Things to Do, illustrated by Cátia Chien (Chronicle, February 2017); Deborah Freedman’s This House, Once (Atheneum, February 2017); and Kevin Henkes’ Egg (Greenwillow, January 2017).

I’ve art from each book today, and Deborah also shares some early sketches and thumbnails, for which I thank her.

Enjoy!

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(Click to enlarge cover)

 
I’m walkin’ on the wild side today, you all, and doing one of those cover reveal dealios. I’m very intrigued by this book, Julie Kim’s Where’s Halmoni? This will be on shelves in early October of this year from Little Bigfoot, a children’s book imprint from Sasquatch Books. The story provides a look into Korean folklore and is evidently told in a unique picture book-graphic novel hybrid format.

The author was born in Korea, and this is her debut children’s book, which tells the story of two young children who, per the publisher, “stumble into a technicolor fantasy world while on a search for their missing grandmother. Throughout their travels, they meet several Korean folk characters that help (and hinder) their search. The backmatter of the book includes extensive information on Korean folk tales and culture.”

I managed to snag two spreads here below from the book. Beautiful, huh? Read the rest of this entry �

“And Thor’s own brother, Tyr, had his hand bitten off
when he tried to outwit the wolf.”

 
Last week at Kirkus, I chatted here with Joe Todd-Stanton about his debut children’s book, Arthur and the Golden Rope (Flying Eye Books, February 2017), volume one in the Brownstone’s Mythical Collection series.

Today, I am following up with some art from the book, including the glorious endpapers.

Enjoy.

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“The ground rumbles beneath my slippers as I walk. Father squeezes my hand. ‘It will be okay, Sami. Your birds escaped too,’ he repeats. His voice sounds far away.
I squeeze back, hoping it will steady my wobbly legs. Everyone I know is here.
We are walking, one after the other. ‘Just like follow-the-leader,’ says Father.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
The plight of Syrian refugees was in the news well before we elected such a disastrous and hateful president, but due to his recent travel ban, it’s all the more top of mind for folks all over the world. Having picture books on hand that can explain this to children is helpful, and I recently wrote here at Kirkus about picture books that capture the plight and flight of refugees.

Coming to shelves in March is Suzanne Del Rizzo’s My Beautiful Birds (Pajama Press), a new book specifically about Syrian refugees. Rendered in bright and textured polymer clay and acrylic, it’s the story of a boy named Sami, leaving his Syrian home (with a sky full of smoke) to escape war. The boy is concerned about the pet pigeons he leaves behind. “It will be okay,” his father tells him. “Your birds escaped too.” When Sami and his family make it to a refugee camp, the boy tries to create art commemorating his birds, but his art only turns to black. Sami eventually comes to some peace when he a canary, a dove, and a rose finch fly into the camp.

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It’s the first Sunday of the month, dear Imps, which means I have a student or newly-graduated illustrator. Today, it’s James Serafino, who graduated from the School of Visual Arts and tells me that children’s books are his primary passion in life and that he loves to share and learn and talk about them as much as possible.

Let’s get right to it, and I thank James for sharing his artwork.

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From John Lewis’s and Andrew Aydin’s March: Book Two,
illustrated by Nate Powell
(Click to enlarge)

 


“‘IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT PROFOUND AND UNEQUIVOCAL PLEAS FOR JUSTICE AND THE FREEDOM OF ALL MEN EVER MADE BY ANY PRESIDENT,’ telegrammed Dr. King as soon as the speech was over.”
— From Shana Corey’s A Time to Act: John F. Kennedy’s Big Speech,
illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

 

From Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!,
illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
(Click to enlarge)

 
This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got three new picture books that make me wish I could snap my fingers and be in an elementary language arts classroom right about now. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about the third book in John Lewis’s and Andrew Aydin’s March trilogy (Top Shelf Productions), released last year and illustrated by Nate Powell; Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! (Scholastic, January 2017), illustrated by Eugene Yelchin; and Shana Corey’s A Time to Act: John F. Kennedy’s Big Speech, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and coming to shelves from NorthSouth Books in April.

Today, I’ve got art from all three books in the March trilogy, as well as art from Yelchin and Christie.

Until Sunday …

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“The books I loved best when I was a kid were always very detailed, so I probably pick narratives that will lend themselves to that style. Pretty much every mythology is so rich in back story and characters that it’s a great thing to hang a story around, because it gives you an instant, vast visual language you can then place your character into.”

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Today over Kirkus, I talk with British author-illustrator Joe Todd-Stanton about his debut children’s book, Arthur and the Golden Rope (Flying Eye Books, February 2017), volume one in the Brownstone’s Mythical Collection series.

That Q&A is here.

I’ll have even more art from the book here at 7-Imp next week.

Until tomorrow …

 

 
Author-illustrator David Soman visits 7-Imp this morning for a cyber breakfast and gives just the right answer to my question about what he would like to have on our cyber-table. “Coffee,” he says. “Coffee and blueberry banana pancakes. With coffee. Sweet Sue’s, a great breakfast joint in somewhat nearby Phoenecia, New York, calls blueberry banana pancakes ‘blue monkeys,’ which is what we call them at home. I love them on the weekends. With coffee. Did I mention coffee?”

Coffee it is, and I’m pleased to say that David shares a whole bunch of art and preliminary images today. Pictured above is an illustration from last year’s The Monster Next Door, released by Dial in September. David both wrote and illustrated this one, though he’s most well-known for the series on which he collaborates with his wife, author Jacky Davis — the bestselling Ladybug Girl series. (If I’m counting correctly there have been over 20 sequels to the opener in the series, Ladybug Girl, published in 2008.) Let us also not forget 2014’s beautiful Three Bears in a Boat, one of my favorite picture books from that year.

But David’s first illustrated picture book, written by Angela Johnson, was published in 1989. He’s been making picture books for a while, in other words, and so it’s a pleasure to talk to him today about his work, his technique, his teaching, and much more. Let’s get to it, and I thank him for visiting today.

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“until …”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’m taking a moment this morning to highlight one more 2016 picture book, Marsha Diane Arnold’s Waiting for Snow (Houghton Mifflin, November 2016), illustrated by Renata Liwska. (This title is fitting, given we get very little snow here in the South.)

Marsha visits today to talk about this tender, endearing story and what’s next for her. She titled what you will see from her below “Lessons in Patience,” which is also a fitting way to summarize this book. In it, Badger makes it loud and clear that he’s tired of waiting for the snow to come, despite the more philosophically-bent Hedgehog reminding him in more ways than one that “it will snow in snow’s time,” just as the crocuses always bloom in their own time every Spring. All Badger has to do is wait, but that’s easier said than done.

Let’s hear more from Marsha about the book, and I’m peppering the post with some of Renata’s beautiful spreads — and even an early sketch or two.

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