What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring
Geoffrey Hayes and Agnès Rosenstiehl

h1 June 10th, 2011 by jules



(Click anywhere above to see the spread
from which these panels come in its entirety.)

This morning over at Kirkus, I discuss His Shoes Were Far Too Tight, Chronicle Books’s recently-released collection of Edward Lear poems, “masterminded” by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrated by Calef Brown. The link is here.

* * * * * * *

If you missed last week’s column, I wrote an ode of sorts to the TOON Books series (now a Candlewick imprint). These early-reader comics were launched in 2008 by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, and they deliver on many levels. Here’s the scoop.

Below are some spreads from Geoffrey Hayes’s Patrick in a Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Other Stories (April 2011). Opening this post is a spread from Agnès Rosenstiehl’s new Silly Lilly title, What Will I Be Today? (February 2011). And just below here is the spread that follows that one in the book. (Interested folks can read further about the TOON Books series at this 2008 7-Imp post, as well as this 2009 interview with Geoffrey Hayes, which includes lots of art from his previous TOON titles with the irrepressible Benny and Penny.)

Enjoy.



(Click anywhere above to see the spread
from which these panels come in its entirety.)



(Click anywhere above to see the spread
from which these panels come in its entirety.)



(Click anywhere above to see the spread
from which these panels come in its entirety.)

* * * * * * *

SILLY LILLY IN WHAT WILL I BE TODAY? Copyright © by 2010 by Agnès Rosenstiehl. Spreads reproduced by permission of the publisher, TOON Books/RAW Junior, LLC, an imprint of Candlewick Press.

PATRICK IN A TEDDY BEAR’S PICNIC AND OTHER STORIES. Copyright © by 2010 by Geoffrey Hayes. Spreads reproduced by permission of the publisher, TOON Books/RAW Junior, LLC., an imprint of Candlewick Press.





4 comments to “What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring
Geoffrey Hayes and Agnès Rosenstiehl”

  1. Oh, I love the sort of pre-graphic/pre-comic book vibe going on here. And the little whiny bear is cute.


  2. I just found last week’s column from this week’s column, and was SO happy to see it. I needed this reminder, because my son loves these types of books. I’m a fan too. Love the beginning readers, and I also loved the way it encouraged him as a preschooler who COULD read, but didn’t really want to.


  3. I love that the publisher sent me the BEST moment from the Patrick book, in which Patrick puts the bully in his place, remembering mama’s encouraging words. AW SNAP, Patrick. (Insert head roll here, too.)


  4. […] We’re happy to join the side arguing in favor of these new university programs. It’s about time comics gets the same serious treatment as other mediums. In Julie Danielson’s review of our latest TOON Books release, Patrick in “A Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” on the Kirkus Review blog, she noted the success of comic books as a tool for new readers. “Given their approach to this series, Mouly and Spiegelman’s venture was being marketed as a contemporary spin on emerging readers. But I say then and now (though I think hardly anyone would still refer to comics as a passing fancy) that what matters is taking a close look at the books themselves: Are they high-quality literature for children? Yes. Since it was launched three years ago, the series has brought readers nearly 15 outstanding titles by artists from a wide range of backgrounds—established children’s book author/illustrators (Agnès Rosenstiehl), cartoonists and comic books artists (Harry Bliss and Jeff Smith), and some new talent (Trade Loeffler). And the titles have racked up a whole slew of honors, including Theodor Seuss Geisel nods on more than occasion.” (Read the rest of the review here. Read Danielson’s recent post on TOON Books on her own book blog, “7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast,” here.) […]


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