Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“Barney was supersmart, with a thick swish of black hair that stuck straight up and out like the brim of a baseball cap. April thought Barney was a dapper dresser, which is not an easy thing to be when you wear a khaki Lumberjanes uniform every day. Barney was one of the only scouts who wore their uniform every day, because they liked the crispness of the uniform shirt, and the buttons and the kerchief.”

 
Here’s a bit of art from Brooklyn Allen to follow up my Kirkus Q&A last week with Mariko Tamaki about Lumerjanes: Unicorn Power! (Amulet, October 2017).

Enjoy!

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Love the Lumberjanes as much as I do? Then you may be interested in my Q&A over at Kirkus today with Mariko Tamaki, pictured above, who has adapted the award-winning comic books series to a novel for middle-grade readers, complete with spot illustrations by Brooke Allen. Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! is on shelves now from Amulet Books.

That Q&A is here.

Enjoy!

“I think that my slow process of becoming blind is a great reason for this book. When I now look in the mirror, I look like an impressionist painting — interesting perhaps, but not clear. What I do see is my childhood, sharp and clear. Someone Like Me grew out of my memories, a wonderful world that now serves me.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan, pictured here, about her newest picture book, Someone Like Me (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, July 2017), illustrated by Chris Sheban, and much more.

That Q&A is here.

Next week, I’ll follow up here with some of Chris’s art from the book. (I also have a lovely, art-filled interview with Chris I’m eager to post but which I’m ridiculously behind on. I hope to post that soon!)

Until tomorrow …

“I grew up in part in Zimbabwe, and the wild freedom I had then still, I think, acts as an engine to my days. That raw happiness that is possible in childhood is such a gift. But I also remember being dismayed, when I was between seven and thirteen, when people repeatedly told me childhood was the happiest time in life. There is so much of the world that feels opaque and impenetrable at that age, and you are so dependent on the unruly race of adults. Children are fierce, passionate creatures. I think sometimes we treat children and their lives as far more simple than they could possibly be; I want my books, if possible, to act against that impulse.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk to author Katherine Rundell, pictured here, about her newest novel, The Explorer (Simon & Schuster), coming to shelves in mid-September.

That Q&A is here.

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Photo of Katherine Rundell taken by Blair Mowat.

“‘Shh!’ she said. ‘Amazing Anna Hibiscus is busy growing up.'”
— From Atinuke’s You’re Amazing, Anna Hibiscus!, illustrated by Lauren Tobia
and coming to shelves in September

 

Bao Phi, photographed by Anna Min

 
This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got a Q&A with author Bao Phi, pictured above. We talk about his new picture book, A Different Pond (Capstone, August 2017), illustrated by Thi Bui.

That is here. Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll have some art from the book.

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Also pictured above is an illustration from the Anna Hibiscus chapter book series. I mentioned in last week’s Kirkus column that new titles are coming out in the Fall (Kane Miller), and so today I have some of Lauren Tobia’s illustrations from those new books. More artwork is below.

Enjoy!

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“Then Ella put the two heart halves on the ground. She laid them close together so they made a whole heart. …’Rest in peace, dear hearts!'”

 
Today at Kirkus, on account of a summer slump, I’ve got Seven Impossibly Good Bits of Book News. That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about lazy summer (re)reading and mentioned Rose Lagercrantz’s See You When I See You (Gecko Press), illustrated by Eva Eriksson and coming to U.S. shelves in August of this year. It’s a wonderful addition to this wonderful series. Today here at 7-Imp, I’ve got some illustrations from that.

Enjoy!

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— From Charise Mericle Harper’s The Good for Nothing Button!

 


“Point of view (where you are) can affect what you see …”
— From Susan Hood’s Double Take! A New Look at Opposites,
illustrated by Jay Fleck
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got two brand-new picture books, beautiful stories about making it through the rain in more ways than one.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about the deep thoughts of Charise Mericle Harper’s The Good for Nothing Button! (Disney, May 2017) and Susan Hood’s Double Take! A New Look at Opposites (Candlewick), illustrated by Jay Fleck and coming to shelves in June.

I’m following up with some art from each book today.

Enjoy!

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Normally, when I do a Kirkus Q&A, as I did last week, I follow up the following week with art here at 7-Imp from the picture books I write about. I have no art for you this week, since my Q&A last week was not about a picture book. But I’m still doing a quick post. Wanna know why?

My Q&A (here) was with Deborah Heiligman, and we talked about her new book, Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, published by Henry Holt in April. Yesterday, it up and won the 2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the category of Nonfiction, which made me happy to see!

In fact, all their choices in all categories were so good that it’s too hard to single out any other one book. Check out all the winners here.

Congrats to all!

“I thought I knew everything about Vincent, but then I was in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in the summer of 2011, and I saw a mention of Theo. Next to a painting, it said something about how Theo supported Vincent. I was bowled over. I probably gasped. I had forgotten he had a brother, and I had no idea that Theo had supported him. I knew right away that I wanted to write a book about the brothers someday.”

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What’s that? You want a recommendation for a great book? I’ve got one: Deborah Heiligman’s Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, published by Henry Holt in April, a book officially geared at the late middle-grade/YA crowd but which I say is for all ages. It’s the best book I’ve read this year, and I’m pleased that Deborah chatted with me about the book over at Kirkus. I enjoyed our conversation.

That is here today.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo of Deborah taken by Matt Peyton.

 

Here’s my favorite thing that Kwame Alexander says today in our Kirkus chat about how he’s been named the 2017 National Summer Reading Champion for the Collaborative Summer Library Program:

When I asked him what he would say to a kid who tells him summer isn’t for reading, he responded: “I wouldn’t say anything. I’d just read them a poem.”

That Q&A is here.

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Photo credit: Donnie Biggs.