Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“With This Is My Home, This Is My School, I wanted that line to feel like it had been lived in and was beginning to fall apart some, as buildings will when they age and are occupied by energetically active people. So, I inked the whole thing with a hand-carved bamboo pen, often drawing at arm’s length. I also used cheap paper so that the work wouldn’t feel precious and so I wouldn’t worry about drawing things over and over. When, on the fifth or tenth or thirtieth time, I got a face or tree or stove I liked, I cut it out and pasted it to the Frankendrawing that I gradually completed like a puzzle.”

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I chat with author-illustrator Jonathan Bean this morning over at Kirkus about his newest picture book, This Is My Home, This Is My School, coming later this month from Farrar Straus Giroux.

That Q&A is here, and next week I’ll have some art and preliminary images from the book here at 7-Imp.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo used by permission of Jonathan Bean.

Illustrator Steven Henry (the artist formerly known as Steven D’Amico) is here today to talk about a couple of his brand-new illustrated titles, as well as look back on a few of his earlier ones. Steven, who has also worked as a designer and art director, debuted in picture books a little over ten years ago, and today he shares a bit of his artwork — soft and breezy pen-and-ink (for the most part) artwork on this soft and breezy Autumn Day. (And pictured above is early concept art from Rebecca Colby’s It’s Raining Bats & Frogs, released in August. More on that below.)

Without further ado …

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I’m a bit late in posting this, but …

Last month, I talked with the talented Margo Lanagan over at Tennessee’s Chapter 16 about collaborating with Scott Westerfeld and Deborah Biancotti on their newest novel, Zeroes (Simon Pulse, September 2015).

That conversation is here.

Until tomorrow …

Hi, dear kickers. I emailed Julie Paschkis this weekend (she’s one of my very favorite illustrators), and I asked if I could post one of her cheery suns today. My father passed away this week, and I not only wanted one of her lovely suns, but I’m also not really prepared to showcase the work of anyone else today. I’ll get organized next week and perhaps back to “normal” blogging habits when life settles down a bit. I thank her for permission to share one of her sparkling suns.

p.s. Did you see here recently when Julie visited Jama Rattigan?

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” … but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.”

 
Today over at Kirkus, I write about Michael Rosen’s A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the Very Young, illustrated by Chris Riddell (Candlewick, September 2015). That link is here.

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Last week, I wrote (here) about Macmillan’s The Complete Alice, celebrating 150 years of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Today I’ve got a small handful of illustrations from the book — the ones colored by Diz Wallis in 1995.

Enjoy.

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(Click to enlarge)

 
I’ve got a BookPage review here of Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s newest book, I Used to Be Afraid (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, September 2015).

Below is a bit more art from the book, and if you visit this page of Laura’s site, you can read all about the book and its progression from idea to final story.

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I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Patrick McDonnell’s Thank You and Good Night (Little, Brown, October 2015). That review is here, and I’ve got a bit of art from it here at 7-Imp today.

Enjoy.

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Hey there, dear kickers. I had a post lined up today, saying that I’d be taking a week-long blog break. A couple months ago, I received the James Marshall Fellowship from the University of Connecticut. That means I’m going to head up there to look through the papers of author-illustrator James Marshall. (Big fan here of his work. I’m excited!) I was going to do that this week, but plans have changed. My father is actually on hospice and is, I think, nearing the end. So, I’ll do that trip another day, another time.

But that sudden change in plans left me with nothing to post today, especially since I’m out at my parents’ house. You all know it breaks my heart to put up a post without any art. I decided to ask the talented Moira Birch Swiatkowski, a regular kicker herself (and an artist previously featured here at 7-Imp), if she could share some art. She gave me permission to pick whatever image I wanted from her site, and I thought the above image was fitting. As you can read here, it’s all about breakfast and all about fathers.

Since I’m around this week after all, please do leave your kicks, if you’re so inclined.

[Note for any new readers: 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is 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. New kickers are always welcome.]

“‘I am the king,’ said the king. ‘Play for me!'”
— From The King and the Sea

 

— From I Am Henry Finch

 

“‘Coco! Pay attention! Pull that thread out and follow the pattern, NOW!’ …”
— From Coco and the Little Black Dress
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

“My new blanket grew just as warm and
soft and comfortable as my old blanket.”
— From My Two Blankets
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

— From Moletown
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

“When people do notice me, they make a face. I tell myself that I must not smell very good. It’s true that it’s been a long time since I’ve bathed,
but a bear smells like a bear — that’s just how it is. …”
— From I Am a Bear
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

— From Two White Rabbits
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That may be my longest blog post title ever. Er, sorry to your eyes.

But it does mean that I have a lot of art for you today.

First things first: If you’re so inclined to read about the 150th birthday of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, I’ve got some thoughts over at Kirkus today about why The Complete Alice, released by Macmillan last month, is well worth your time. That link is here.

Secondly, last week I wrote here about the following picture book imports (or books created by authors and/or illustrators who live overseas):

• Irena Kobald’s My Two Blankets, illustrated by Freya Blackwood (Houghton Mifflin, September 2015);
• Jean-François Dumont’s I Am a Bear (Eerdmans, September 2015);
• Heinz Janisch’s The King and the Sea, illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch (Gecko Press, September 2015);
• Torben Kuhlmann’s Moletown (NorthSouth, October 2015);
• Alexis Deacon’s I Am Henry Finch, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz (Candlewick, September 2015);
• Annemarie van Haeringen’s Coco and the Little Black Dress (NorthSouth, October 2015);
• Jairo Buitrago’s Two White Rabbits, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng (Groundwood, October 2015).

Today I’ve got a bit of art from each one. (I don’t have art from Kes Gray’s Frog on a Log?, illustrated by Jim Field and also mentioned in my column, but it’s funny stuff.)

Enjoy all the art. …

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“I … don’t think we as writers should censor ourselves too much when it comes to scary stuff for kids. Everyone likes a good, scary story! These books also help kids learn about life and consequences and bravery.

But don’t make the mistake of talking down to kids or trying to moralize. They can sniff it out miles away.”

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Supernatural Southern Gothic, anyone? Over at Kirkus today, I talk to debut author Ronald L. Smith, pictured here, about his new novel Hoodoo, released last month by Houghton Mifflin.

That conversation is here.

Until tomorrow …

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Photo by Erik Kvalsvik and used by permission of Ronald L. Smith.