Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“…maybe, what if, the best family in the world was . . . a family of tiger trainers! She’d live at the circus! She’d spend the day playing with the tigers, tickling the tips of the cubs’ whiskers and counting the stripes on their coats…”

In honor of this post this week—and Cristiana-posts-to-come about international picture books and their creators—I’m featuring an illustrator from Spain today, Ulises Wensell. Wensell was born in Madrid in 1945 and was originally trained as a chemical engineer, later becoming a self-taught painter and illustrator. His many honors include the Spanish National Prize for Children’s Literature. In 2008, he was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2009 for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Read the rest of this entry �

Don’t you want to know more about this little bird? I do. This collage illustration comes from freelance illustrator Lindsay Ward, who is here in the 7-Imp pad on this first Sunday of the month, in which I like to feature up-and-coming illustrators. It is from an upcoming book she is doing with Penguin in Spring 2012, called Blue & Egg. (That title is subject to change, she tells me.) “This will be the second author/illustrator project I have done,” she added. “It is about a little bird who lives in Central Park. One morning a snowball lands in her nest, but Blue thinks it is an egg. She spends the rest of the book trying to find Egg’s mother, while developing a friendship with Egg. Soon, Spring comes and Egg is melting. Blue tries to help save her friend. The ending has a quiet surprise and highlights that friendship always wins out in the end.”

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{Note: Click on this image to see the entire spread from which it comes.}
When I did this…oh, about a month ago, I guess it was, I found myself telling those in attendance about a lot of wordless picture books. I realized that a lot of my favorite titles from this year (as well as in general) are true “picture books”: wordless gems. This morning, I’m featuring one of those — and one of my favorite picture books of 2010.

I first read about Béatrice Rodriguez’s The Chicken Thief (Enchanted Lion Books, May 2010)—originally published in France in 2005 as Le Voleur de Poule—at Betsy’s blog, in which she described it as “one of the lovelier picture book offerings of the year,” adding that it’s charming and very French and is an “epic cross-country chase, {which} reads like The Bremen Town Musicians meets The Fugitive.” The wonderful Paula at Pink Me also covered this one: Read the rest of this entry �

“… I look out the window / and I see the whole block swimming in water. / Furniture, clothes and toys are swirling in the flood. / Roofs are crumbling and windows are shattering. / Big winds have come and trees are breaking. / And all I can see is more water rising. / So I look away and I squeeze Jasmine’s hand / real tight because now
I am scared too.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)

“Her voice was light and springy. Her beat was perfectly in time with the band. Soon even the noisemakers in the second balcony were holding on to every word. The feeling of being listened to—oh, it was a salve to Ella’s sore heart.”
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I should probably open a kicks post, dear readers, with an image that is not as intense as that very first one, but I really love that spread from Shadra Strickland. It’s quite moving, yes? This comes from Shadra’s latest illustrated title, written by debut picture book author Renée Watson. And then, below that, we’ve got an illustration of Ella Fitzgerald from illustrator Sean Qualls to scatter some joy; that comes from Roxane Orgill’s forthcoming picture book biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Both Shadra and Sean have new illustrated titles out and have both been featured at the blog before—each multiple times—so I invited them over this morning for a show-us-what-you’re-up-to-now post.

And, since there’s quite a bit of art this morning, let’s get right to it. Read the rest of this entry �

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I’m so pleased to be featuring the illustrations this morning from one of my top-five favorite picture books of 2010. Oh yes, I have formed such a geek-tacular list in my head! The presentation I made weeks ago at The University of Tennessee’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature—about my favorite picture book titles thus far in 2010—forced me to really consider my very bestest favorites from the year, and this book is one of them. It was actually published in 2009 in Belgium as De Boomhut, but Lemniscaat, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, published the first U.S. edition this year.

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“In her jail cell, Wangari prayed. And like a sturdy tree against a mighty wind, her faith kept her strong. Instead of giving up, she made friends with the other women prisoners. They told her their stories. She taught them about her seeds and saplings. Together, they helped one another.”

If you haven’t had your coffee or hot tea yet, the art work of Sonia Lynn Sadler just might wake you up instead. Sadler has illustrated the picture book debut—Seeds of Change from Lee & Low Books (April 2010)—of author Jen Cullerton Johnson, a biography of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. Johnson, as noted in the back of the book, relies upon Maathai’s autobiographical writing (indeed, her own memoir) to bring us the story of her life — from her childhood in Kenya to 2004, in which she was awarded the “prestigious peace prize.” Read the rest of this entry �

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. Whew. It’s already the first Sunday of August, and the first Sunday of each month is when I like to shine the spotlight on a student illustrator or someone otherwise brand-new to the field. Let’s get right to today’s featured illustrator, Ben Clanton, who—according to his site—has spent most of his time in Oregon and Montana classrooms. But he tells us a bit more below, so without further ado…Welcome to Ben:

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“‘Oh, woe is me! You’re getting very fat,’ Mr. Peek says to himself, noticing the bulge in his jacket. The hippo overhears and thinks the remark is intended for her!”
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Last year, Candlewick Press debuted its first imprint, Templar Books, a partnership with Britain’s Templar Publishing. So far, I’ve been super pleased with what titles Templar/Candlewick has brought to the U.S. market — some really unusual (read: weird…you know I love my weird picture books) stuff and lesser-known author/illustrators. Er, lesser-known to me anyway. And one of those is being featured today: In 2008, Kevin Waldron debuted as an author/illustrator with Mr. Peek and the Misunderstanding at the Zoo, and the first U.S. edition was released this May. I’ve got a couple spreads to show you today so that the art can speak for itself. Don’t you love the ’60s, sort of Inspector Clouseau vibe? Kirkus describes Waldron’s digitally-created art as “a delightful cross between Calef Brown and J. Otto Seibold.”

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“They squeal, they squirm, they bellow and bark …
they don’t seem to like being fed to a shark.”
(Click to enlarge.)

I was fortunate enough recently to get a copy from Scholastic New Zealand of author/illustrator Ruth Paul’s latest picture book title, Two Little Pirates (April 2010). Now, none of her titles have made it to the States yet, so I hadn’t heard of her books, but when I saw this title, I was immediately smitten with her style. As you can see from the illustrations she’s sharing with us today during her 7-Imp visit, she’s got a rich, warm palette, and her comforting, curvy lines pull one in. Two Little Pirates tells the story of a couple of imaginative boys and the raucous way in which they awaken their Mom—I mean, Mum—and Dad — as if pirates attacking a ship: “The dawn slips in on a dragonfly’s wing, in through a porthole to wake up the King, and in through the misty remains of the night, come two little pirates preparing to fight.” The illustrations, rendered in watercolor and colored pencil, are full of movement, playful perspectives, and expressive characters — especially poor Mom and Dad, awake way sooner than they wanted to be.

I say all the time here at 7-Imp that I love to shine the spotlight on international illustrators, and I really do. I especially enjoy the opportunity to introduce readers to folks not otherwise published here in the States. Here’s Ruth to tell us a bit about her work — and, incidentally, her wonderful environmentally-friendly home… Read the rest of this entry �

I’m pleased to welcome author/illustrator and graphic novelist Mark Crilley to 7-Imp this morning. He’s stopped by to share some art, tell us a bit about where he’s been and what he’s up to next, and to give 7-Imp a gift!

Mark says he started drawing, growing up in Detroit, almost as soon as he could hold a pencil in his hand. After graduating from college (more on that below) in 1988, he taught English in Taiwan and Japan for nearly five years. His first comic series, Akiko, was published in 1995, leading Random House to invite him to adapt it as a series of chapter books. His latest graphic novel series, Miki Falls, was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens for 2007 and has been optioned by Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Production Studio for development as a feature film. His newest project is a six-volume graphic novel series from Dark Horse Comics called Brody’s Ghost, which he tells us more about below.

Currently, Mark lives in Michigan with his wife, Miki, and children, Matthew and Mio. I thank him for stopping by and for sharing some of his art with us this morning. Read the rest of this entry �