Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 
I’m pleased today to share some spreads from Deborah Hopkinson’s Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterlies (Chronicle, August 2020), illustrated by Meilo So. It’s an empowering story about children working together as grassroots activists, and it’s a smart pairing of text and illustration.

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“… play with my children …”
(Click to see spread in its entirety)

 
I don’t want to say too much about today’s book, a German import written and illustrated by Jutta Bauer. And that’s because Selma (Gecko Press), coming to shelves next month, is a slim, small book, and I don’t want to steal from you the wonders of reading it for the first time. And it’s a small book that asks a big question: What is happiness?

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“My message is very simple: Economic growth and progress must add to
human happiness, not take away from it.”
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

 
Today, dear Imps, I have an unusual picture book import for you. The World’s Poorest President Speaks Out was originally published in Japan in 2014 and will be on American shelves in mid-August, thanks to Enchanted Lion Books. Translated by Andrew Wong, edited (in the original Japanese edition) by Yoshimi Kusaba, and illustrated by Gaku Nakagawa, it is a picture book adaptation of Uruguay President José Mujica’s 2012 speech to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, during which he asked: “Can we really talk about the solidarity of humankind and kindness to each other, or even togetherness, when we are constantly competing to outdo each other?”

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Forgive me, dear Imps, for writing about a picture book that won’t be on shelves till September, but I can’t help myself. Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away (Candlewick), written by Newbery Medalist Meg Medina and illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, is the story of two best friends. They have one final day of play before one of them leaves for her new home. It’s moving day, but the two girls make the most of their last hours together.

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From Book Two of the March trilogy

 

Hello, dear Imps. I had plans for today’s post that I am temporarily setting aside, given the news of the passing of Representative John Lewis. It’s a tremendous loss, and I want to do something here at 7-Imp to mark it.

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“I know it might take a little while.
But that’s okay—I can wait.”

 
Sepideh Sarihi’s My Favorite Memories (Blue Dot Kids Press, August 2020) is a truly international affair. This story comes from an author born in Iran, who has lived in Germany for nearly a decade now. Illustrator Julie Völk is Austrian, and the book was translated from the German by the award-winning translator Elisabeth Lauffer. The original German-language edition of this book was released in 2018.

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(Click to enlarge)

 
Today, I’ve some spreads from A. E. Ali’s Our Favorite Day of the Year (Salaam Reads, June 2020), illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell. It’s a sweet, earnest story — one about budding kindergarten friendships and learning to accept diverse ways of life. Other than one’s home, where else but in classrooms can we better instill such an appreciation in children? Pictured above are the book’s endpapers, which depict symbols from various cultures around the world.

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“I could get in some laughs with inside toys —
cars and games that bring much joy.”
(Click spread to enlarge)

 
I know I’ve said here before at 7-Imp that my favorite thing about Instagram is the feed of artist and illustrator Charly Palmer (whom I got to interview back in 2017). If you missed his recent cover art for Time, see it here. Magnificent.

So, I was happy to see he’d illustrated a new picture book that, somehow, I missed back in May but finally read this past week. My Rainy Day Rocket Ship, written by Markette Sheppard, is the story of a boy who must play inside on a rainy day — and decides to take his imaginative play to the next level.

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Today’s featured picture book is from Estonian author Piret Raud, a book first published in France in 2016. Coming to shelves this August, Ellie’s Voice: or Trööömmmpffff was translated from Estonian by Adam Cullen and comes from Yonder, an imprint of Restless Books.

Ellie the bird is puzzled and sad to have no voice, especially when everyone and everything around her does: “The trees rustle. The waves crash. Even the rain sings when it falls.” When a trumpet washes ashore, Ellie is thrilled to create sounds with it, even if those sounds are awfully strange.

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“Your big dark eyes take in the world.
Will you be curious, like your uncle …”
(Click spread to enlarge)

 
Today, I’ve got some spreads from Andrea Pippins’s Who Will You Be?, released back in April by Schwartz & Wade, in which a parent wonders who her child will grow up to be.

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