Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 
Those of you who follow picture books closely may remember this 2015 publication, The Only Child. Named one of the New York Time’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books for that year, it was created by author-illustrator Guojing. She’s back with a new wordless book (Schwartz & Wade, September 2019), called Stormy, the story of a stray dog who finds a new home.

Read the rest of this entry �

I am happy to see a new picture book illustrated by Daniel Egnéus, who has illustrated two of my favorites this year (see here and here). This is Wendy Meddour’s Grandpa’s Top Threes (Candlewick, September 2019), and it a moving look at grief — and how it affects a child and his grandparent. It was evidently first published in the UK as Tibble and Grandpa.

“Henry was talking,” the book opens. “But Grandpa was gardening. Again.” I love this. We see young Henry on the verso; it appears that he is expounding in great detail on one topic or another, finger in the air as if to accentuate his point. On the recto, there is Grandpa. Yes, he’s gardening, but he seems lost in thought. Or maybe just lost.

Henry asks his Mom why Grandpa is always gardening, to which she tells him: “Just give him some time.” Henry fails to reach his Grandpa — until, that is, he engages him in the top three game. “What are your top three sandwiches?” he asks him one day. Grandpa’s face lights up a bit. Then they discuss their top three jellyfish, trains, and days-out. The latter is Grandpa’s idea, asking his grandson what he’d like to do that day. (“The zoo. The swimming pool. The park,” Henry exclaims.)

The life seems to be seeping back into Grandpa, thanks to his ebullient grandchild, filled with joy and a bustling energy. It is when Henry asks Grandpa who his “top three Grannies” are that it is revealed Grandpa is mourning the loss of his wife. (See the spread below.) It is a deeply felt moment, tender and restrained.

Meddour writes with a delightful specificity: Henry’s answers to the top three game are detailed, often funny, and reveal much about his personality. She succinctly captures Grandpa’s grief (“Grandpa made a little grunty noise”). Read the rest of this entry �

 
It’s the first Sunday of the month (welcome, September), when I typically feature an illustration student or someone newly-graduated. Today, I welcome the talented Christina Rycz, who just graduated from the School of Visual Art’s MFA program. She shares lots of wonderful art today and shares a bit about herself. Let’s get right to it, and I thank her for visiting today.

Read the rest of this entry �

 
This past week, Tennessee’s Chapter 16 posted a Q&A I did with author Derrick Barnes, who will be at Nashville’s Southern Festival of Books this October. He talks to me about his newest picture book — The King of Kindergarten (Nancy Paulsen Books, July 2019), illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton — as well as the success of last year’s award-winning Crown. You can click on the image above to head to our chat.

Read the rest of this entry �

“Dring-dring, dring-dring! They hop aboard a boat and …”

 
Here’s a quick post to share some art from the fourth book in the Chirri & Chirra series from Japanese author-illustrator Kaya Doi. Chirri & Chirra Underground (Enchanted Lion, July 2019), translated from the Japanese by David Boyd, features the same inquisitive twins of the first three books, but in this new addition to the series they journey under the earth.

Read the rest of this entry �

 
I’m doing something a little bit different today and sharing this pin that author-illustrator Carson Ellis created. For obvious reasons. I know that merely sharing a post like this does little for my part (compared to a force like the NRA), so I’ll say this: If you’re angry and sad and fed up, as so many of us are, I recommend you contact your elected officials to tell them how you feel.

Carson shared this at Instagram and told me it was fine with her if I posted it here today. If I understand it correctly, she is not producing and selling these pins. In fact, she’d probably encourage you to make your own! DO IT UP.

Read the rest of this entry �

 
Every now and then I like to check in with author-illustrator Barbara McClintock to see what’s she up to. Lucky me: She answered that question for me with this post, having sent some images (both sketches and final art) from a book she will see published this coming Spring (from Scholastic), The Three Little Kittens. (I’ve seen some Instagram posts from Barbara about this book, and I’m so happy to share some images here today.)

Now, let me say, though, in the name of first-things-first: Barbara has a glorious new picture book out now. It’s called Vroom!, and I reviewed it for the Horn Book. If they happen to post that review online, I’ll certainly link to it later here at 7-Imp. You definitely don’t want to this miss book, one of my very favorites from this year. More on that soon, I hope. Oh, and here’s the cover: Read the rest of this entry �

 
There’s been a long history of anthropomorphic vehicles in children’s books and in children’s entertainment — from Little Toot and Pedro to Cars. Robert Neubecker’s Little Smokey (Knopf, August 2019) provides a modern twist with an environmental edge, given the frequency of forest fires in this country. Read the rest of this entry �

“They caught the babies, / and catch them still, /
welcome them into the world, / for loving.”
(Click image to see spread in its entirety)

 
“Midwives have been in the world probably as long as there have been human babies on earth.” Thus opens The Women Who Caught the Babies, a picture book by the legendary Eloise Greenfield, coming to shelves in September (Alazar Press) and illustrated by Daniel Minter. A five-page introduction kicks things off and is followed by a series of poems that follows African American midwives from slavery to the early 2000s. The book closes with a poem about the midwife who caught Greenfield herself, as well as some family photos.

Read the rest of this entry �

 
Today, I’ve some illustrations from The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney (Schwartz & Wade, May 2019), written by Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle (who is also the creative director of Illustoria magazine).

This is the story, set in 1930 in Oxford, England, of (as the book’s sub-title tells you) Venetia Burney, the only child to have named a planet. In the book’s opening spreads, we are invited into her world, as we walk with her and her schoolmates outside in a classroom lesson about the solar system. Venetia and her mother live with her grandfather, a former Oxford library head, and the inquisitive girl loves to tell him all about her lessons. Venetia is fascinated by not only outer space, but also Greek and Roman mythology; she’s intrigued by the links between science and literature. So, when a new planet is discovered . . . Read the rest of this entry �