Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

My Valentine’s Day gift to everyone this morning involves some illustrations from Sergio Ruzzier’s newest title, Hey, Rabbit!, published by Roaring Brook Press. (I had it in my head that it was published at the end of last year, but online sources tell me it’s coming out in a few days. Shows you what I know.) Since this is a sweet, unassuming tale of friendship that I very much like, a peek at the art is my Heart Day gift to you all, my friends.

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It seems like I say this on the first Sunday of every month, when I feature a student illustrator or illustrator otherwise new to the field here at 7-Imp, but I’ll say it again: A month’s already gone by? It’s February? Wasn’t it New Year’s Day just yesterday? Maybe it’s having young children in the home that makes time seem to fly. Or perhaps everyone feels this way. Either way, I seem to be doing a double-take this morning.

On this, February’s first Sunday, I welcome up-and-coming illustrator (and soft-sculpture artist) Lori Nichols. She brings us, as you can see above, Kitty and Piggy. Lori sent me the entire text from which these featured spreads this morning come, and I hope, based on what I saw, that Kitty and Piggy find a publisher. Remember how last Sunday you joined me in celebrating an illustrator who can create engaging illustrations for the wee’est of preschoolers — and manages to do so without being excessively cloying about it? I think Lori has that gift, too.

Kitty Asks What If? is the title (or perhaps just working title) of this text, and it centers around two friends — one porcine protagonist prone to great worry and his feline friend, who seems to excel at … well, easing such worries. (Have mercy, we Piggies most desperately need you Kitties in our lives.) When Kitty asks in the opening spread, “Hi, Piggy. Wanna play?”, Piggy’s worried about the threat of rain. Kitty pretty much says, pshaw, my friend — but with the gentleness of a good comrade, don’t you know:

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It’s time to take a Sunday once again to appreciate those illustrators who can entertain the youngest of children through picture books without also inducing headaches, brought on by excessive cuteness, in those adults reading the illustrated titles to said children. This is a balancing act, I would think, a tough thing to pull off. David Walker can do it.

Last August, Candlewick released a picture book by Shirley Parenteau, with illustrations by Walker, called Bears on Chairs. This book is a little gem is what it is. If you have a preschooler, or work with them, and you want a picture book that’s going to draw them like a magnet with its rhyming (“Parenteau’s rhythm and rhyme never falter,” wrote Kirkus), fun, accessible text and its soft, warm images, this is the book for you. My own preschooler has carried it around pretty much since I got a review copy and read it to her multiple times: She’ll set herself down on the couch and “read” it. With a text like this…

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I’m not sure how it is that I got several review copies last year from Creative Editions, but I’m glad I did. One of them was this beautiful book, featured a couple weeks ago. The book featured today, Moon Theater (August 2009), written and illustrated by Swiss-American illustrator Etienne Delessert, was another one. This is a haunting and weird (weird = compliment) and memorable picture book. When I read it, I felt like the child version of myself taking in a Sendak book again: Both the story and illustrations have that type of mystery and beauty and slight terror nestled in them.

I’ve only got this one spread (above) this morning to share. Wish I had more, but isn’t that beautiful? That’s the moon theater in action. You can click to see it in more detail. Look at that huge moon, getting raised to the night-time stage. That’s just creepy-good is what it is.

Moon Theater tells the tale of a young stage hand, who—as revealed on the cover here—is the one responsible for the backstage magic behind the moon theater that is the night.

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Good morning to all…Notice this week’s number? 150, dear friends. 150 times, listing both our big and small gratefuls — and me being lucky enough to be graced by your collective classy presence for 150 weeks.

Do you like that opening spread? I very much do. Lately here at 7-Imp, I’ve shone the spotlight on some international author/illustrators (Roberto Innocenti, Dorothée de Monfreid, Sebastian Meschenmoser), which I always enjoy doing for many reasons, and today I’m happy to show some art from Canadian illustrator Geneviève Côté, whose books I’ve reviewed previously here at 7-Imp.

I follow Geneviève’s work with interest: I like her loose lines, the vibe to her work that seems both fragile and free-spirited, and her expressive characters. There is a lot going on in her art, yet she manages to make it look effortless. In her latest title, featured here today, Me and You (Kids Can Press, August 2009), she shows us an instance of when Cute Fluffy Bunnies Are Okay In Fact They’re More Than Welcomed.

This is a simple tale that goes a lot like this:

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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.

I’m here once again on a Sunday to share art from a book I was hoping I’d feature in an illustrator interview, but it looks like the interview might not happen. Boo. That’s okay: Let’s go ahead and enjoy the art this morning, shall we?

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Hello, all! And happy Sunday, the first of the DECADE. Kick up your feet and stay for the next ten years or so. 7-Imp’s happy to have you.

I love blogging. If I didn’t, I’d stop. But, having said that, I’ve enjoyed my blog break of sorts over the holidays and got into it so much that it’s taken me DAYS to get this post ready. (I usually whip ’em up in one night.) I’m moving at a snail’s pace, folks. It’s the holiday daze, which must end soon. This I know.

But today’s featured artist makes it really easy to get back into the groove of things. Check this out:

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This squirrel here looks a lot like how I feel about now, post-holidays. And I didn’t even have that much eggnog. The holidays can get just crazy, you know? It is Sunday, right? I’m not even sure what day it is anymore.

Anyway, happy holidays to all, and I hope everyone had a joy-filled, dysfunction-free holiday, indeed. For the VERY LAST kicks-post of this year (this decade, in fact), I’m sharing some spreads from one of my favorite—if not, my very favorite—picture books of 2009, Waiting for Winter by German author/illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser. Heaven bless Kane/Miller — for many reasons, actually, but in this case, for bringing us the first American edition of this title in June of this year, having originally been published in Germany in 2007. 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.

This week, as a gift to you, I’ve got a little round-up of some holiday art. Okay, well, I say “holiday,” but this week it happens to be all Christmas in nature.

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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.

When I want those picture books in which gentleness reigns, I like to turn to Jim LaMarche. His illustrations for Albert, written by Donna Jo Napoli in 2001, are some of my favorites. (And I have Eisha to thank for my copy of that title.) And LaMarche has illustrated a whole slew of other widely-acclaimed titles, as well. In fact, at this time of year, there’s always Bear’s First Christmas by Robert Kinerk, which I posted about here in 2007, but I digress.

In Lost and Found (Chronicle Books, July 2009), which he both wrote and illustrated, LaMarche brings us three dog stories. In the first, Molly, the beautiful golden retriever of a little girl named Anna, manages to lead the way home when the girl runs away after a spat with her mother and gets lost:

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