Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

This morning, I’m highlighting a nonfiction title from author/illustrator Don Brown, who visited 7-Imp in ’09. This, his latest title, tells the boyhood story of Thomas Edison, “{c}lever Tom, energetic Tom, brave Tom, hard-working Tom, curious Tom…” A Wizard from the Start: The Incredible Boyhood & Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison, released by Houghton Mifflin early this month, captures the curious, energetic spirit of the young Edison and ultimately takes us to the grown man, who is to have said, even though he brought the world a total of 1,093 patents, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.” Always engaging, the book is filled with fascinating anecdotes about Edison’s life, and Brown’s watercolors, loose lines, and subtle palette (this one is particularly—and beautifully—light-infused) manage to express so much with such simplicity.

Pictured below are the cover, a couple more spreads, and some early sketches and the book’s thumbnail sketches from Don. I thank Don for sharing his art work this morning. Enjoy.

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You can file this post away in the Blogging-About-Books-Sight-Unseen category, which I’ve done before here at 7-Imp. I don’t often do this, but sometimes one of my favorite illustrators will come along with a new book from which he or she wants to share some art. And, though I haven’t held the book in my hands yet and cannot personally vouch for it, I’m still willing to get up here at the ‘ol 7-Imp soapbox and yawp about it. Designer and illustrator Carin Berger (who visited 7-Imp in February of ’09) is one of those illustrators for me. Pictured above is a spread from her newest title, and below is the cover:

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I’m a LeUyen Pham fan. Say that three times fast. This is her title page spread from Douglas Wood’s Aunt Mary’s Rose, released by Candlewick in March.

Aunt Mary’s Rose tells the tale of one family through the generations, the author’s family, in fact: A young Douglas is staring at the rosebush in his aunt’s backyard, wondering what his Aunt Mary meant when she instructed him to take care of it, that “one day there will be a little bit of you inside of it. And a little bit of the rose inside of you.” Aunt Mary eventually explains how she once took care of the rosebush as a child after her daddy instructed her to; how she raised her nephews (including Douglas’s father), who in turn took care of the rosebush after their Grandpa died; and on and on. Through the Depression, war, and great loss, the rosebush thrives, the family always nurturing it, their family legacy living through it. Read the rest of this entry �

Today I welcome a Canadian illustrator’s work to the blog. It’s been a while since I’ve featured these types of illustrations: For Kitten’s Spring (Kids Can Press, February 2010), Eugenie Fernandes created the world of the curious cat of the title using clay, acrylic, and mixed-media collage. I’ve had these illustrations for a while, too, and it’s high time I featured them — before Spring sneaks away and Summer arrives in all her unrelenting glory.

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I’m heading to Knoxville to celebrate children’s lit this weekend. Here, for your reading pleasure while I’m gone, is the schedule for the final day of the 2010 Summer Blog Blast Tour:

• Julia Hoban at Chasing Ray
• Stacy Kramer at A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy
• Nancy Bo Flood at Finding Wonderland
• Paolo Bacigalupi at Shaken & Stirred
• Sarah Kuhn at Bildungsroman
• Jenni and Matt Holm at HipWriterMama

My Inner Nerd is expending a great deal of effort this morning to avoid welcoming renowned illustrator and paper engineer Matthew Reinhart to
7-Imp with a bunch of really cheesy puns on the word “pop,” such as “I’m eye-poppingly happy Matthew has stopped by for a visit.” Oops. I said that outloud, didn’t I?

But I am eye-poppingly happy, as I have very much enjoyed Matthew’s books over the years. Matthew started out studying industrial design/toy design, and now—whether he’s working alone or in tandem with fellow paper engineer extraordinaire Robert Sabuda—he’s always working a kind of magic in his pop-up picture books, releasing a holy-wow-how-does-he-do-that kind of spell over readers. Taking us into a new dimension with his breathtaking pop-ups, he brings us stories—ones we thought we knew—in unforgettable ways.

This page of Matthew’s site lists the titles he’s created over the years, as well as the ones with which he’s collaborated with Sabuda (and others). If you haven’t experienced them, you’re in for a treat. If you haven’t seen the royal palace of Alfheim leap from the page (in 2008’s Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Creatures, created with Sabuda) or Frankenstein unfold from the center of a spread (in 2007’s Mommy?, created with Maurice Sendak and Arthur Yorinks) or seen Cinderella’s royal carriage leap up as you turn the page (in 2005’s Cinderella: A Pop-Up Fairy Tale) or had the ever-livin’ bejeesus scared out of you when Darth Vader springs forth (in 2007’s Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy)…well, I could go on and on. If you haven’t experienced Matthew’s work, many delights await you.

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Here’s the day-three blog blast tour schedule. I’ll be here tomorrow with pop-up master Matthew Reinhart on my arm.

• Michael Trinklein at Chasing Ray
• Nick Burd at A Fuse #8 Production
• Tom Siddell at Finding Wonderland
• Sarah Darer Littman at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Jessica Leader at Shaken & Stirred

• Mary Jane Beaufrand at The YA YA YAs
• Rita Williams-Garcia at A Fuse #8 Production
• Jennifer Hubbard at Writing and Ruminating
• Charise Mericle Harper at Shelf Elf
• Holly Schindler at Bildungsroman

It’s time again for the Summer Blog Blast Tour, and here’s the master schedule. If you’re thinking “blog blast tour”…hubba wha?…wubba huh?…what in the what the?, it’s basically a whole bunch of interviews with authors and illustrators at a whole bunch of blogs during the week. This week, I’m hosting pop-up virtuoso Matthew Reinhart on Thursday. For the rest of the week, I’ll merely be linking to others’ interviews, since Matthew sent me precisely seven skerjillion images for the interview. This is a good thing — but takes a bit of time to format.

Here’s today’s schedule. Enjoy:

• Kate Milford at Chasing Ray;
• Mac Barnett at A Fuse #8 Production;
• Hazardous Players at Finding Wonderland;
• Malinda Lo at Shelf Elf;
• Barbara Dee at Bildungsroman.

I apologize in advance to my readers this morning that I’ll be talking about a book you can’t get here in the States (yet?), but I’m making it up to you by featuring the work of Australian author/illustrator Gus Gordon, who wrote and illustrated said book. You know I love to shine the spotlight on international illustrators when I can. (Ooo! Ooo! If I had more blog-time in life, I’d make it a regular feature here at the blog. A girl can dream.) And I’ve seen a copy of Gus’s latest book, Wendy, published last year by Penguin Books in Australia. I have no idea if it will eventually be published in the U.S., but I hope so, because it’s wonderful. The dry humor in the book is laugh-outloud funny, and Gus’s cartoon illustrations are just right.

Wendy tells the story of … you guessed it: Wendy. Wendy is a chicken. Read the rest of this entry �