Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“The Tiny King ate alone at a big, big table.
A huge feast of delicious food was laid out every day.
But the Tiny King was just one tiny person.
He could never finish so much food all by himself.”
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“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a Tiny King.”

That’s the opening to Taro Miura’s The Tiny King, originally published in Japan in 2010 but released here in the States by Candlewick just last week. This is the story of how one very diminutive ruler lived alone in a huge castle, save his “army of big soldiers with long spears and stern faces.” As you can see above, he eats alone at a big, big table — and, in fact, he does just about everything alone.

Things like giant bathtubs are no fun, if you’re splishing and splashing by yourself (even if there are water fountains). A big white horse might be some company, but not if you’re so tiny that you fall off every time you try to ride it.

You get the idea. Read the rest of this entry �

“It’s raining outside, but not too much. Just as much as it needs to, thinks the big one as he watches the little one run ahead of him toward the water. The big one thinks just how much he loves this little one, with his funny ideas and his funny boots. He can’t remember if he also had these kinds of ideas in his head when he was still little.”
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Happy Sunday, all.

Have you all been following the picture book coverage at the New York Times? There is a new children’s book editor over there, Sarah Harrison Smith, and I like her taste in picture books.

Case-in-point: Just this week she wrote here about the book I’m featuring today. The book is Sylvie Neeman’s Something Big, illustrated by Ingrid Godon (Enchanted Lion, September 2013), an import originally published in 2012 as Quelque Chose de Grand. Neeman is Swiss, and Godon was born in Belgium. This one was translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick.

This is the story of an adult and child (“the big one” and “the little one”) and an intimate snapshot of their day. The big one is clearly a caretaker of some sort; I assume it is the boy’s father, but it could be a grandfather or uncle. The young boy is troubled, because he wants to “do something big.” As the boy attempts to explain what he means, he gets increasingly frustrated, as he finds it difficult to nail what he means with just the right words. For instance, when he says that maybe “it looks a little like a lighthouse by the ocean,” since “it has the ocean all around it and there’s light at night,” the adult suggests that what the boy wants is to build a lighthouse by the ocean. Nope. As adults are wont to do, he’d misunderstood altogether, but he’s really only trying to help the boy suss out what he means. Read the rest of this entry �

Early sketch

Final art: “…into the night. The moon rises. Wherever the train goes, the moon follows. When the train stops, the moon stops. When the train starts, the moon starts. Sometimes it hides behind a ridge. Then—hello friend—reappears. The train rests in small towns. Passengers off, passengers on. Stars blink in the cold air, lights blink on the horizon, and the Overnight Train pushes into the deep hours of the night…”
(Click to enlarge spread. No, really. You must.)

 
Anyone else seen Elisha Cooper’s newest picture book, Train (Orchard Books, September 2013)? It’s really something, and it’s been met with a whole heapin’ handful of starred reviews. (Too many to keep up. Just trust me on this.) This is one for the senses, Cooper’s depiction of the sights and sounds and smells of the experience of riding a modern-day train. Readers start out with a red-striped Commuter Train, end with a High-Speed Train, and experience a bright blue Passenger Train, an orange Freight Train, and a dark green Overnight Train in between. We stop at small stations, sit in the cab of an engine, pass valleys of fields, witness the outskirts of a midwestern city, step inside Grand Central Station, head across the Great Plains, enjoy a dining car, watch the moon follow the train, and much more. We see the sights, smell the biscuits (and “grease and rust and burnt toast”), and hear the sounds of the train (“it sounds like the da dum da dum of a beating heart”).

There’s no shortage of children’s books about trains, but this one is exceptional for its lyricism and Cooper’s signature artistic style: Impressionistic, gestural, graceful. He segues from one train to the next without a hiccough. The book’s horizontal format is perfectly suited to the subject matter, and his spot-on pacing and very fluid sense of movement (as well as a text that flows beautifully) make these page turns compelling. As they should be in a book about a train’s forward journey.

And what breathtaking landscapes we’re treated to in this one, as only Cooper can show us. The night-time spread, pictured above, is particularly striking. Best of all, he captures the wonder of trains — and travel in general. It’s a child-like wonder that never for a second talks down to children—Cooper would never do such a thing—making this a book for all ages. But I’ll stop there, ’cause he’s visiting this morning to talk a little bit about that. The wonder, that is.

I thank him for stopping by and sharing artwork and sketches — or, in his words, “mainly paintings as they were happening.” (I have a kind of addiction to seeing Elisha-Cooper sketches.) Read the rest of this entry �

“We stood there in front of him. He seemed neither pleased nor disappointed to see us. … ‘I think,’ said my mother, placing a quieting and comforting hand on Ogdon,
‘he is waiting for something to eat.’ My mother is a very practical woman.”

That was just really fun to say: “Featuring Edward Gorey.”

As if he’s here, visiting 7-Imp.

(Oh, pictured left is Ogdon, who is four years old. He is shouting, “He is waiting for me-e-e!” More on that in a minute.)

I’m doing something different today. I have a hard and fast rule here at 7-Imp (a land without very many rules at all, honestly) about always featuring new children’s books. Or, you know, new adaptations or re-tellings or re-releases with new illustrations. You get the idea.

Last Fall, the New York Review Children’s Collection re-released Rhoda Levine’s He Was There From the Day We Moved In, illustrated by Gorey, which was originally published in 1968. When they re-released it, I got a bit of art from the publisher so that I could blog about it.

Yes, last Fall.

Sometimes I’m just really slow.

I never got around to blogging about it in 2012 and so sort of gave up on the idea. But today I’m feeling contrary (breakin’ the law, BREAKIN’ THE LAW!), and I’m going to blog about it, even though this lovely re-release was nearly one year ago.

And I mean, hey. It’s Edward Gorey, dear friends. It’s always fun to post about Edward Gorey.

Read the rest of this entry �

“I walked over and under and around
to where Mom and Dad waited. ‘What now?'”
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Morning, everyone. Author/illustrator Adam Rex is visiting today to tell us a bit about his newest picture book, Moonday, released by Disney-Hyperion earlier this month. Moonday tells the goosebump-inducing story of the moon lowering itself into a young girl’s backyard, putting all the town under its sleepy spell. Was it real or a dream? That’s for readers to decide.

I really like Adam’s paintings for this story. No need to describe them; you can see them on display here. And the writing? The writing is superb. This one makes an outstanding read-aloud, best for (but not excluded to) a cozy one-on-one read with your favorite child. It possesses a rhythm and cadence to savor. Kirkus gave this one a starred review. I just read the entire review, and they put it this way: “Gentle rhymes, recurring consonance and almost subliminal rhythms make murky, dreamy paintings vivid and the surreal story sleepily spectacular.”

Yep. What they said.

Here’s Adam. I thank him for visiting … Read the rest of this entry �

Happy Sunday to all. Illustrator Jamie Hogan is visiting today to talk about her latest illustrated book, written by April Pulley Sayre and released back at the beginning of this year. It’s called Here Come the Humpbacks! (Charlesbridge, February 2013), and it tells the story of a humpback whale calf and its mother, as well as the dangers they face during migration.

The image above is from one of Jamie’s sketchbooks. It has nothing to do with April’s book (way more on that below); I just like it.

Let’s get to it, since Jamie talks a bit about creating the illustrations for this book and what’s next for her. (I wish we were chatting in person on the beautiful island where she lives in Maine.)

Read the rest of this entry �

In The Flowers
Watercolor, colored pencil, and collage, 2013

 
Happy long weekend, everyone. It’s the first Sunday of the month, so I have a newly-graduated illustration student visiting 7-Imp today. Her name is Phoebe Wahl, and I’m so pleased she’s here this morning, sharing her artwork, because I really like it. Since it’s a long weekend, I might just hear the sound of cyber-crickets here today at 7-Imp, but I hope some of you are around. Phoebe’s artwork is a treat.

As you’ll read below, Phoebe likes to work primarily with watercolor and collage, making (for a reason I love, which she explains below) very textured works you want to reach out and touch. Her stylized, richly patterned illustrations make me feel … I dunno. The word cozy comes to mind. Phoebe’s here to tell us a bit more about herself and then showcase some art, and I thank her again for visiting. Read the rest of this entry �

“Papa Bear’s ears twitch at the sound of two paws clapping.
‘Bravo, Papa!’ says Little Bear. ‘That was beautiful!’
‘I have a surprise for you!’ Little Bear explains,
‘I followed the bee, and you must see what I found!'”
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This morning I’ve got an international import, coming to shelves in September from Chronicle Books. Benjamin Chaud’s The Bear’s Song was originally published in France in 2011. Those of you who closely follow international picture books may recognize Chaud’s name: He’s the creator of the Pomelo books.

This very tall book tells the very fun tale of a young bear who runs away from home, right on the tail of a bee. The bee has caught his eye, deep in the forest where he lives — just as he’s about to relax with his Papa Bear and begin hibernation. Little Bear has honey, and only honey, on the mind, so off he goes. When Papa Bear realizes his boy is gone, he chases his son, looking high and low, and the adventure begins. Read the rest of this entry �

The amazing Anna Hibiscus who lives in amazing Africa is back, you all! (I’m not just engaging in hyperbole for fun. “Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa” is how these books tend to open.)

If you’re wondering whom I’m talking about, I’ll send you here, if you’re so inclined to read. That was a 2011 Kirkus column I wrote about the very delightful Anna Hibiscus chapter book series from Kane/Miller. Anna’s appeared in a picture book as well, featured here at 7-Imp in 2011, and now she’s in a new one, Splash, Anna Hibiscus! (also from Kane/Miller). In a nutshell, Anna is a young African girl, living in a commune with her huge family (including a Canadian mother). The series is top-notch reading for children and has been recognized by the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (2011). The books are written by Atinuke, a Nigerian storyteller, who spent her childhood in both Africa and the UK and now lives in Wales, and illustrated by British artist Lauren Tobia.

In this new story, Anna’s at the beach with her family. She loves the waves but wants to play in the water with a family member — anyone who will just stop being busy to participate in her joy.

Lauren shares some art today (sans text), as well as a couple of sketches. I thank her. Read the rest of this entry �

Last week at Kirkus, I wrote about Bruce Eric Kaplan’s Cousin Irv from Mars (Simon & Schuster, June 2013). This book makes me laugh, and I say much more about it at that Kirkus link, which is here.

Today, I’ve got some art from the book.

I wrote here (back in 2010) about Kaplan’s last picture book, Monsters Eat Whiny Children (also Simon & Schuster, 2010), also wonderfully demented and funny.

I’m glad he makes picture books.

Enjoy the art below. Read the rest of this entry �