Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 
I’m sending you to the Horn Book today. I reviewed Jessica Lanan’s The Fisherman & the Whale (Simon & Schuster, May 2019). If you’re so inclined to read it, the review is here at the Horn Book’s site. It’s a splendid wordless tale, this one.

Read the rest of this entry �

Cover art
(Click to enlarge)

 
Hush, Little Bunny (Balzer + Bray, January 2019), written and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist David Ezra Stein, is a new take on a traditional lullaby. And as many classic lullabies do, it reminds children that their caretaker is there to protect, comfort, and nurture — unconditional love in its purest form. Here, we have a small rabbit with its father, who plays with, protects, guides, feeds, and amuses his child — all told in the same sing-song rhythms as the lullaby upon which it is based.

David visits 7-Imp today to share some of his process images, as well as final paintings from the book. This is a sunny, light-infused palette with many full-bleed spreads that invite readers into the natural world to explore with the creatures. I love to see the energetic lines of David’s work. Let’s get right to it so that the art can speak for itself, and I thank him for sharing. (And be sure to scroll down to see Bun Bun.)

Read the rest of this entry �

— From the poem “Kookoorookoo! Kookoorookoo!”
(Click image to enlarge and read poem in its entirety)

 
Blooming Beneath the Sun (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum, April 2019), featured here today, evidently sprung from illustrator Ashley Bryan’s love of the work of 19th century British poet Christina Rossetti. Gathered in this cheery book are thirteen of her children’s poems, ones that primarily celebrate animals and nature. A couple of lesser-known poems, “Mother Shake the Cherry-Tree” and “Lie-a-Bed,” feature families (the latter illustrated with a woman who seems to be working magic on a child). Most of the poems are Rossetti’s most accessible, child-friendly, nursery rhyme-esque ones — such as, “Who Has Seen the Wind?” (included below).

Read the rest of this entry �

(Click to enlarge)

 
It’s the first Sunday of the month (hello, June), which means I’ve a visit from a student or newly-graduated illustrator. This morning, I’ve illustrator Heidi Aubrey. She studied at the ArtCenter College of Design and has just signed with an agent. Heidi sent along some art, as well as a bit about herself, and I thank her for sharing this morning.

Read the rest of this entry �

“With a sling, Dede shot supper until even the prairie dogs grew scarce.”
(Click to enlarge)

 
Illustrator Nicole Tadgell visits 7-Imp today to share some art and process images from A. LaFaye’s Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town (Albert Whitman, January 2019). It’s the story of a 19th-century African American family who saves money in order to leave the sharecropping life and secure land in Kansas. After they’re finally to able leave and stake a homestead claim in the town of Nicodemus, they create a home for themselves in the bank of the Solomon River; they survive a hard winter; they meet their Ni-u-kon-ska (Osage) neighbors, who bring them food; and young Dede, the narrator, gets a job shining shoes at the St. Francis Hotel. In the end, they have established a “home where they could tell stories, use the stars to guide them, and make plans for the things to come.”

Read the rest of this entry �

— From John Hare’s Field Trip to the Moon

 

— From Tom Sullivan’s Out There

 
Want to head into inky-black outer space with me today? I have a BookPage feature about John Hare’s entertaining Field Trip to the Moon (Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, May 2019) and Tom Sullivan’s trippy and thought-provoking Out There (Balzer + Bray, May 2019).

That’s here, if you’d like to head to BookPage and read about both books. Today here at 7-Imp are some illustrations from each book.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry �

(Click to enlarge)

 
Today, I’m celebrating two things — the fact that the Poetry Foundation named poet Naomi Shihab Nye the 2019–2021 Young People’s Poet Laureate and the art of Melissa Sweet.

When Melissa heard the news about Naomi this week, she was inspired and created this collage above. (I saw it on Melissa’s Instagram feed, squealed, and secured her permission to share it here today.) This is an excerpt from Naomi’s poem, “Famous.” You can read the poem in its entirety here, which I highly recommend. It’s always been one of my favorite poems by her (and, really, simply one of my favorite poems). Naomi’s work has meant so much to me over the years — as a reader, as a librarian, as a writer, and as a parent. I’m thrilled she’s the next Young People’s Poet Laureate. She will do good work.

I thank Melissa for sharing. She says she’d like to be a buttonhole (or a button!). Yes. Me too.

Read the rest of this entry �

“Maya placed a new can of fish in her pocket and set out to find Cat’s home.
Cat followed politely behind.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
There are a lot — truly, a LOT — of picture books in the world about lost animals finding a new home, often with the protagonist of the story, ready and waiting for a new furry friend. That’s what we have (sort of) in Caroline Magerl’s newest picture book, Maya and the Lost Cat (Candlewick) — originally published in Australia in 2018 and on shelves here in the U.S. in early May. This one stands out for the strong writing and Magerl’s distinctive watercolor illustrations.

Read the rest of this entry �

 
I’m sending you to the Horn Book’s site this morning for a review I wrote of Deborah Freedman’s Carl and the Meaning of Life (Viking, April 2019). How about that wonderful title?

The review is here, if you’re so inclined to read it.

Read the rest of this entry �

“Drowsy contentment. Cool night air. We’re cuddled in the rocking chair.
Familiar lullabies to croon. This gentle time, our babymoon.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Hayley Barrett’s Babymoon, illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal. That is here if you’d like to read about the book.

I’ve got a few spreads from the book here today, and BONUS! Juana shares different versions of sketches for one spread. I’m tellin’ ya … I could look at her beautiful sketches all day. Here’s what she said about it: Read the rest of this entry �