Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

The above ’07 snowflake by Kristina Swarner wasn’t on the initial Blogging for a Cure list, so it was not assigned to a blogger to feature. I’m pleased to show it here. Just look at that lovely snowflake! And Ms. Swarner’s portfolio. And this, too. And here’s an ’05 feature at Embracing the Child. Her work is not familiar to me, but I have now found a new illustrator whose books I must explore. I really like her style. According to my web search, her most recent illustrated title is The Bedtime Sh’ma: A Good Night Book, written by Sarah Gershman and published this year by EKS Publishing. She also illustrated Doris Gayzagian’s One White Wishing Stone: A Beach Day Counting Book in 2006 (published by National Geographic) and 2005’s Before You Were Born (Roaring Brook Press), a retelling by Howard Schwartz of a Jewish legend in which Lailah, a guardian angel, places the indentation that everyone has on the upper lip just before a baby is born. Read the rest of this entry �

Boy howdy, did reading this one take me back to my childhood — not only the terribly frustrating (as well as the sometimes poignant) moments of having siblings, but also the Judy Blume books of my own childhood. Every bio you read of her will tell you that she’s a pioneer of books for children and young adults and that she possesses a spot-on ability to nail the embarrassments, tensions, worries, headaches, and even joys of growing up and, in particular, sibling relationships. And all those bios would be right — not to mention she completely delivers in those ways with this, her latest title: Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One (Delacorte Books for Young Readers; August 2007; advance reader’s copy), seven brand-spankin’-new stories about the brother-and-sister pair that appeared in her 1984 picture book, The Pain and the Great One. The latter included illustrations by Irene Trivas, but this new title includes illustrations from James Stevenson (“wispy” — The Publishers Weekly review calls his illustrations “wispy.” I love it, ’cause it’s oh-so true).

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Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

Many thanks to Elaine Magliaro for telling me about some beautiful snowflakes she saw in person at the Danforth Museum of Art in Framinghman, Massachusetts, on Sunday, November 4th (here is her post about it). These are snowflakes who haven’t been assigned to a blogger in the Blogging for a Cure effort, so I was able to snag images of them from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and will be showing them to you over the next couple of days.

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We’re so pleased to be shining a spotlight today on one half of the dynamic duo over at Just One More Book!!, Andrea Ross. Andrea and her husband, Mark, are — hands down — the hardest working duo in the kidlitosphere, and their podcast over there, which is all about picture books, is terrifically informative and fun. And what we love the most about them is how professional and consistent they are with their podcasts, the look of their site, and . . . well, everything. Best of all, their BIG ‘OL, HUMONGOUS passion for picture books is evident in each and every podcast they do.

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Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

Pictured here, just ’cause I like it, is Sophie Blackall’s 2005 snowflake, “Winter Swallow.” Her ’07 snowflake, “Flying Fox and Three Babies,” which is also quite beautiful, was featured here by Jennifer at not your mother’s bookclub during the second week of this Blogging for a Cure effort. Okay, it’s too beautiful to not just go ahead and post again, so I’ll do that just underneath today’s schedule below.

If you missed them, you can read yesterday’s features here. Yesterday’s write-up featured the second dino-flake I’ve seen in all the snowflakes thus far this year. So, if you want to see that and are generally trying to keep up, go read ’em and enjoy — and don’t forget this page where all the features are being compiled in one spot. Read the rest of this entry �

Jules: So, I’m going to try to keep things short this week, since the last two illustrator-feature portions of our kicks lists were loooooong. Interesting, but long. And that’s not to slight illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner, whose illustration (one of many) from Jutta Richter’s The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity is featured here. If you’re not familiar with this German illustrator, I wouldn’t be surprised. I wasn’t, but I saw her illustrations in this unusual, little book, which I just finished, published by Milkweed Editions and translated from German by Anna Brailovsky, and I liked them. Not to mention I like to highlight international illustrators when I can, though I’ve done a rather pathetic job of it this year, despite my best intentions.

This is a quite distinctive, very philosophical-in-nature read, technically categorized in intermediate fiction but definitely an adult cross-over title as well. I love how Joyce Carol Oates described it as being not unlike “a Grimm fairy tale recast by Franz Kafka.” It’s about Christine, an eight-year-old girl, whose daily walk to school takes her past a talking alley cat, whose insights always give her something to ponder. I like this review of it I found after reading it (I love to read my reviews when I finish a book) and what they call the book’s striking and “odd starkness.” The book was named one of “The Best Seven Books for Young Readers for November 2006” by German Radio. Read the rest of this entry �

Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

Pictured here is R. Gregory Christie’s 2004 snowflake, “Christmas Dew.” Not only do I love this snowflake, but I just finished Ann Patchett’s new novel, Run, which is so entirely and perfectly wonderful (and I may not review here at 7-Imp; I might just cut myself a break from reviewing every dang thing I read). Anyway, this is exactly how I imagined the character of Kenya (from Run) looking. Exactly. When I stumbled upon this flake just now, I thought, I know her.

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Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

Pictured here is Mélanie Watt’s new ’07 snowflake, “Scaredy Squirrel Snowflake,” and it was featured yesterday by Emily Beeson at Whimsy Books. I’m posting it again, because, well, just look at it and you can see why I would want to post it again. ‘Cause lordamercy it is awesome. So funny. As Sara put it in a comment at Emily’s post yesterday, “I think I would smile every time I saw it, no matter how many times that was.” Well put. Word to that. Gotta love Scaredy Squirrel.

And remember: Beware frostbite. Read the rest of this entry �

I just love the fact that we’re finishing up our participation in the Winter Blog Blast Tour with our 55th interview!!! Five happens to be my favorite number, and to see two of them right there together like that makes me go a little tingly.

It’s especially appropriate, because Jules and I are really really pleased to be able to interview Gabrielle Zevin for the WBBT. A couple of months ago, we had the extreme pleasure of “tri-reviewing” her latest YA novel, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, with Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson’s Book Page. The multi-layered plot and well-developed characters gave us a lot to talk about, so we were grateful for the chance to ask Gabrielle a little more about Memoirs, as well as her other novels and screenplays.

In case you’ve missed any of this talented author’s offerings, here’s a little Gabrielle Zevin 101:

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Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule. In honor of Poetry Friday, the snowflake pictured here is Jane Yolen’s 2005 snowflake, “Second Snow” (see this post for her ’04 poem-on-a-snowflake). Jane wrote this poem especially for Robert’s Snow. Calligrapher Amy Lin inscribed the words.

Did you see yesterday’s features? All the features are fab, and I appreciate all the participating bloggers. For a great story about the sheer power of elementary art teachers, see Josephine Cameron’s feature on Matt Tavares and his snowflake.

Don’t forget this page where all the features are being compiled in one spot.

Here is today’s schedule.

• Susan Kathleen Hartung, featured by Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader
• Mary Peterson, featured by Cheryl Klein at Brooklyn Arden
• Annette Simon, featured by “MsMac” at Check It Out
• Mélanie Watt, featured by Emily Beeson at Whimsy Books